My thoughts after trying out 7 CPC molds (1 Viewer)

[JeepologyOffroad]

What else we’re you considering?

Mainly jockey. And briefly considered diasq and Bdiamond. I didn’t include price as a factor when evaluating either. That’s just a super nice bonus.

 

[redwine]

I didn’t include price as a factor when evaluating either. That’s just a super nice bonus.

I think that's the right approach. Obviously everyone has different budgets and all, but going up a "tier" in mold pricing is only about 20 cents whereas edgespot pricing is ~30 cents per level. I would much rather sacrifice an edgespot level or two before moving down to a mold I didn't want.

 

[CarlosStorm]

I think that's the right approach

?
I don't think there is a right approach, there is a lot of different and good approaches. But this is one very interesting.
Finally, everyone have to choose what features want is his/her chip: look, sound, feel, if it works with the theme, and so on.
On the other hand, the best mold is the one you don't hesitate for anything you like

 

[TKEUofM]

What will really twist your mind is that if you ask David at CPC, he will tell you that there is no difference between the molds and the chips are created out of the same material and process.

So is there really a difference? Or is it a self fulfilling prophecy that they sound act different?

 

[bsdunbar1]

Awesome. Congrats! Honestly this is not where I expected this thread to end up.

For me CSQ was an easy choice for my sets. It wasn't even really a decision. I temporarily tinkered with the idea of an S-crown set because of the history. But after I owned a TRK set briefly I didn't feel the need to go this direction. But I also understand why people choose the other molds.

I will say that one of the most common complaints that I see about CSQ is something along the lines of "the design of the mold is too busy". Whereas to me the "design" is more of a texture than a "design". It is very neutral while still being aesthetically pleasing. It looks busier on a screen blown up, but in my hand it just feels more like a deep texture which also happens to give it some grip without being super textured like Amold or E&C which tend to get very dirty quickly. I think perhaps the mold depth isn't as great or the impression edges aren't as severe as some of the other molds.

No ragrats.

^Agree
CSQ was far and away my #1 choice. I love seeing the mold and think it compliments most chips made with it.
My next CPC set will be with DIASQ

 

[Irish]

Just to wrap this up: I ended up placing an order with the CSQ mold.

I had a lot of trouble finalizing which mold I wanted. I waffled back and forth between diamond-square, large crown, and jockey for over a month. I ended up listing out all the factors I cared about and how much I cared about them, which looked like this:
View attachment 836077

A process like this is never perfect because of human imprecision and subjectivity. And we can sit here and nitpick the individual scores that go into it, but that's not really the point. When I did this, the thing that really stuck out to me was how much of an all-around solid mold CSQ was, despite me never having even considered it as a choice. That led me to mocking it up, handling the mold a bunch, and eventually falling in love with the mold.

To be honest, I'm still not sure I made the right decision. But the mold choice is probably THE most important choice in the customs CPC process, and it definitely was helpful to have a lot of time to think about it.

I'm curious about your scoring on "known mold issues", is this based on the samples you received or feedback from other set owners? Just curious as you have lcrown listed as a 5 and scrown as a 10. I've not noticed any complaints from those who recently gotten some big lcrown sets. In the past both CSQ and scrown have sometimes had minor height variation issues (not to DSQ level, but it seems to happen more frequently than others like hhr, amold & jockey). Again just curious where those numbers are coming from, not trying to persuade/dissuade from a particular mold.

 

[raynmanas]

CSQ was far and away my #1 choice. I love seeing the mold and think it compliments most chips made with it.

same here; it wasn't even remotely close for me. CSQ also happens to be visually closest to the web mold, which is my favorite mold of any excluding THC.

 

[toothpic]

This thread made me question the mold I put my order in on, but only for a moment. Good write up!

For me I liked the look of DSQ too much to pass on my first order.

 

[raynmanas]

For me I liked the look of DSQ too much to pass on my first order.

DSQ is also awesome - i have an 18xx set planned for it that i may or may not ever pull the trigger on.

 

[redwine]

I'm curious about your scoring on "known mold issues", is this based on the samples you received or feedback from other set owners? Just curious as you have lcrown listed as a 5 and scrown as a 10. I've not noticed any complaints from those who recently gotten some big lcrown sets. In the past both CSQ and scrown have sometimes had minor height variation issues (not to DSQ level, but it seems to happen more frequently than others like hhr, amold & jockey). Again just curious where those numbers are coming from, not trying to persuade/dissuade from a particular mold.

It was a combination of what I read on the forum and what I saw in my own samples. I read in several places about DSQ height issues. In my own samples, this is what I saw:

Lcrown height issues. Pretty significant for 5 chips imo. You can visually tell there are fat chips and skinny chips.

DSQ mold imperfections. Not a deal breaker, but still something. Combined with other reports of height issues, this one got a low score.

 

[redwine]

This thread made me question the mold I put my order in on, but only for a moment. Good write up!

For me I liked the look of DSQ too much to pass on my first order.

DSQ is a great mold. I even told David I was "about to place a DSQ order" a few weeks back. I am still having 2nd thoughts about not going DSQ

 

[toothpic]

DSQ is a great mold. I even told David I was "about to place a DSQ order" a few weeks back. I am still having 2nd thoughts about not going DSQ

I think you still have a few weeks to decide lol

 

[Jeff]

Broken in FDL is very comparable to RHC. Quicksilver has it right.

I always felt as though new FDL chips felt slightly domed. Like the edges of the chips were thinner than the inlay area.

 

[Coyote]

Being not rich, I had to make a hard choice and sell a heavy-leaded, historic THC set to get a custom CPC set.
Which means I 'm a person who sacrifices sound in favor of image (easy to explain if you know I 'm a former artillery soldier, and hence half-deaf).
A-mold has been imperative for my Athenian Owls.
For my Horseshoe Pesta set, I opted for the HHR, which coincidentally sounds best to the ears of an artillery man, IMHO, among the CPC molds I 've tried (I have tried A-molds, FDLs, DSQs and H-molds)

 

[Irish]

It was a combination of what I read on the forum and what I saw in my own samples. I read in several places about DSQ height issues. In my own samples, this is what I saw:

Lcrown height issues. Pretty significant for 5 chips imo. You can visually tell there are fat chips and skinny chips.
View attachment 836249

DSQ mold imperfections. Not a deal breaker, but still something. Combined with other reports of height issues, this one got a low score.
View attachment 836251

Thanks for the feedback, that makes sense. FWIW (and David can correct me if I'm misremembering some past conversations), the samples that CPC makes available are largely intended for folks to get a feel & look for the mold. The samples don't go through the same QC with regards to things like chip thickness and diameter. I doubt those lcrowns would have made it through QC for a full set, it looks like there would be close to a 2 chip difference in height for stacks of 20. I've played with custom sets that were off a bit (close to 1 chip), but never that much. Hell even BCC had better QC than that lol.

For those types of issues (like stack heights), I would definitely rely more heavily on the experience from previous set owners.

 

[redwine]

Thanks for the feedback, that makes sense. FWIW (and David can correct me if I'm misremembering some past conversations), the samples that CPC makes available are largely intended for folks to get a feel & look for the mold. The samples don't go through the same QC with regards to things like chip thickness and diameter. I doubt those lcrowns would have made it through QC for a full set, it looks like there would be close to a 2 chip difference in height for stacks of 20. I've played with custom sets that were off a bit (close to 1 chip), but never that much. Hell even BCC had better QC than that lol.

For those types of issues (like stack heights), I would definitely rely more heavily on the experience from previous set owners.

thanks for the advice!

 

[bergs]

All I know is that if you play ~100 sessions with the HHR chips the workhouse chips sound different and shuffle like buttah.

 

[Jeff]

All I know is that if you play ~100 sessions with the HHR chips the workhouse chips sound different and shuffle like buttah.

@bergs Now that you have them, what is the ratio of sessions with the Truman Paulsons vs. sessions with the Truman ASM/CPCs? Do you ever play with the CPC set now?

 

[bergs]

@bergs Now that you have them, what is the ratio of sessions with the Truman Paulsons vs. sessions with the Truman ASM/CPCs? Do you ever play with the CPC set now?

Every 10th session or so we mix in the ASMs. I won the SOHE world championship this year with the ASMs (temporarily turned it into a T5-T100 set).

 

[Meddler2]

imo the best way to make a fair comparison between all CPC molds is to compare a barrel of ea mold but have same base color, same spots, and either same size inlay or no inlay at all; and omit any chips that are hot-stamped for obvious reasons.

Until that day happens it's impossible to draw any conclusions other than they can sound and feel different for about 10 different reasons.

 

[raynmanas]

Until that day happens it's impossible to draw any conclusions other than they can sound and feel different for about 10 different reasons.

I have 2 different stacks of my own CSQ customs sitting in front of me right now, and they sound completely different when shuffled. Unweighted vs. weighted base alone makes a very noticeable difference.

 

[Jeevansluck]

If you are having custom chips made, then yours is the only opinion that matters. Get the mold that plays best with your criteria and thematically matches with your design. We just want to see the process.

This is the best reply to the OP in the entire thread. Pure and simple.

Nothing more to add at all.

 

[redwine]

Every 10th session or so we mix in the ASMs. I won the SOHE world championship this year with the ASMs (temporarily turned it into a T5-T100 set).

that's not much at all!

 

[Meddler2]

I have 2 different stacks of my own CSQ customs sitting in front of me right now, and they sound completely different when shuffled. Unweighted vs. weighted base alone makes a very noticeable difference.

Yeah can't really compare weighted to unweighted.

 

[nlhenerd]

and why the "upcoming molds" thread seconds as an emotional support group.

I think of it more as purgatory

 

[Taghkanic]

As for looks, I mean, what does a top hat and cane hove to do with poker.

You don’t dress up as the Monopoly man when you play poker? Huh. OK, to each his own.

 

[Taghkanic]

Meanwhile... No H-mold test?

I know I’m in the minority here, but that’s my favorite ASM/CPC mold.

 

[Meddler2]

Including the 2 44mm molds, I think there are 17 different molds available for custom sets. All things equal it would be hard for me to pick which mold feels best/different; assuming formula, base color, spots, and inlay are all the same.

 

[SteveEH]

Meanwhile... No H-mold test?

I know I’m in the minority here, but that’s my favorite ASM/CPC mold.

I've handled everything except the large crown, elephant and crown, and scroll. My opinion is based mostly on theme, feel, and looks. Sound doesn't make much of a difference to me as they're all very close, although the H mold has more of a "clack."

For 7/8" inlay chips and a retro theme, H mold is my favorite because it has:

- lots of space between the edge and the outer ring
- a slight recessed center
- enough space between the inlay edge and the inner ring so an off center inlay doesn't "fall over the edge."

The other molds don't feel as "substantial" mainly due to the first point I think. Circle Square is a close runner up though.

Why's it your favorite @Taghkanic ?

 

[Taghkanic]

Similar reasons!