Stamford Cuemakers: The Lincolnshire Workshop Behind Two of Mark Selby's World Titles

When Mark Selby lifted the World Championship trophy for the second time in May 2016, the cue in his hands needed work before he could pick it up again. The ferrule had worn down from years of use, the shaft showed the marks of a title-winning run, and the people who fixed it were the same family who'd built the cue for him a decade earlier: Stamford Cuemakers, working out of a small Lincolnshire workshop that most of the sport has never heard of.

That's the pattern with the best independent cue makers — the ones doing the most consequential work are often the least visible. Stamford Cuemakers has been quietly building and maintaining cues for multiple world-class players since 1989, run as a father-and-son operation by Paul and Lewis Roberts, with a client list that reads better than most factory brands can claim: Mark Selby, Ding Junhui, Stuart Bingham and Peter Ebdon among them.

Stamford Cuemakers, a family business, not a factory

Stamford Cuemakers has been making cues since 1989 — long enough that "family business" isn't a marketing line, it's just how the workshop has always run. Paul and Lewis Roberts handle every stage of production themselves, and by their own account, their edge comes from a place most hand-cue makers can't claim: they've played the game at a serious level themselves. As they put it on their own site, cue-making "isn't easy and takes many years practise to even get close to perfection" — and understanding what a cue needs to do, not just how it needs to look, is what separates a workshop like this from a production line.

The Mark Selby connection

Selby's relationship with Stamford Cuemakers goes back to 2006, when the workshop built the cue he'd go on to use for the best part of a decade — including his first World Championship win. By 2016, after his second title, the cue needed restoring rather than replacing: a worn brass ferrule and shaft wear from the kind of use only a world champion's season produces. Stamford Cuemakers' gallery of the repair shows exactly what that work looked like — not a rebrand or a new cue, but a restoration back to the cue's original spec.

Ding Junhui has a similar story with the workshop, needing comparable ferrule and shaft work carried out after heavy tournament use — the kind of detail that only comes from a maker who's been trusted with the same cue for years, not someone building a one-off.

What actually goes into a Stamford cue

Where a lot of independent makers keep their process vague, Stamford Cuemakers publish genuinely detailed guidance on the decisions that go into a cue — the kind of detail that's useful whether or not you ever order from them:

• Ash or maple. Ash flexes more through the shaft, generates spin more easily, and produces lower cue ball deflection — which the workshop notes is "probably why it's the choice of most professionals." Maple is denser, giving a more solid feel on contact but more deflection with side.

• One-piece or jointed. Stamford Cuemakers are direct about their preference: one-piece is the better-playing cue, full stop. Wood runs uninterrupted through the full length rather than being broken by a brass joint, which they say makes a real difference on soft screw shots around the black spot. Jointed cues remain more practical for travel and naturally suit players who want a heavier cue.

• Joints. They stick to a standard full-thread joint rather than the quick-release joints that have become fashionable — their reasoning being that quick-release threads can work loose slightly over time and throw the butt out of line with the shaft.

• Weight and spec. Their general guidance is 17oz–18.75oz for a one-piece cue and 17.5oz–20oz for a jointed one, a 9.5mm tip as the standard recommendation, and a butt diameter typically between 28mm and 30mm depending on what feels right in hand.

Series 1, their leading range, only uses shafts that pass strength and grain checks strict enough that just a small percentage of stock qualifies — ash selected for straight, even arrows, maple for clarity and freedom from blemishes. Since December 2015, Series 1 cues have carried a unique serial number and certification disc, the kind of detail that matters more to a collector than a casual buyer, but signals a workshop treating each cue as an individual object rather than a unit off a line.

How to order one

Stamford Cuemakers take orders directly by phone or email — email is their stated preference, specifically so there's no ambiguity over spec. They'll talk through what suits your game before anything is built, take a deposit to begin the order, and the remaining balance is due on completion before shipping. Lead times are given as a guideline rather than a guarantee, since the manufacturing process can shift the timeline. They also maintain a network of authorised agents for buyers who'd rather deal with someone locally.

Why this one matters for the wider independent scene

Stamford Cuemakers is a useful example of exactly the gap this series exists to close: a workshop responsible for the cues behind multiple World Championship runs, with essentially no independent editorial coverage anywhere online before now. Search their name and you'll find their own site and little else — no forum deep-dive, no proper profile, nothing contextualising what they've actually done in the sport. For a maker whose work has literally been in a world champion's hands on the final black of a World Championship final, that's a strange gap. It's exactly the kind of gap this directory is here to fill.

Read more in our guide to the world's independent snooker cue makers, or see how Stamford Cuemakers compares to other UK workshops in Beyond the Big Names.