So, who else beside me had to have one?

I did... I bought it immediately!

Thank God I happen to be at my desk when the email hit my in box.... I did not hesitate one second. I certainly could have bought 2 knowing I could have sold the second one for a profit but that would have screwed some folks out of getting one so I did not do that. With only 50 being made I think and you can buy up to 2 units .....if 25 folks all bought 2 it would sell out with only 25 folks owning them. That scenario is one reason why I did not buy a second one. Just doesn't seem right to me.especially with one of the have to have Tenyo Effects. Heck, you pay that much for the plastic version these days so no surprise that this sold out so fast.

Again I am so glad I am getting one.

Charlie

Same here and I also only bought one.
I

Am in line for one as well. Am looking forward to handling this, and think this is one that will be great for performers as well.

John

What if the woood warps? That was my only hesitation in not ordering one....

Not only does wood warp but it swells when humid. Should have been made out of alluminum so it could have been scaled to the same size as ther original and also could have been anodized colored the same plus would last a lifetime. I think it will be not used much and sit on the shelf. Too bad since everyone was hoping and waiting for this to be made for a long long time. Time will tell if wood was a bad choice.

A good choice for magic wagon but a bad choice for Tenyo Elite ? Why ?

I think wood will be fine. There are 100's of examples of small wooden intricate props from Warner, Miller, Milson Worth, Viking, Clarence Miller, Mikame, Magic Wagon, etc that work perfectly without warping issues. I definitely prefer wood over metal in this case and think wood will help mask any sound issues that metal might highlight. The Tenyo Elite wooden Zig Zag cigarette is impressively close in size to the orignal and I would expect similar results this time. Am looking forward to being able to compare it to the original soon! Did you order one Richard?

John

I never got any confirmaiton email of my order for 2 and didn't hear back from Tenyo Elite when I emailed them .

I am thinking the PayPal glitch mentioned earlier means it didn't go through .

No I didn't get one. I did not know about it until it was sold out or might have thought hard about getting one. All the makers mentioned have long history of making sucessful props out of wood and understand how to avoid pitfalls with warping, swelling, cracking or drying out and falling apart. Zig Zag you manually have to push the sliding parts so not much can go wrong, with ultra tube it has to rely on gravity for the part to slide down and not hesitate with pushing it back up. I agree the sound might be better muted with wood or could be worse. There are wood props made that don't work 100% when in humid enviroment or after they get used a lot. Don't have a humitly problem in Ariz expept the monsoon season that last 2 months.

Richard

They are not Magic Wagon that has experience and excells in wood props. How many did you buy?

Not only does wood warp, it can draw termites. I don't want a warping Ultra Tube infested with termites. I'll stick with plastic!

I was eating before order one by this ignoble looking lycan that someone had the bad taste to let hang over his chimney.

They started someday with a first magic trick made of wood. Did they fail? No. Any business or craftsman started one day. There is no reason to hope or imagine that Tenyo Elite will fail to offer quality products. And they work directly with Tenyo which is not a company that used to do wrong things.

Yeah monsoon season could be an issue with any wood prop I know the Elite team collectively has considerable manufacturing experience so hopefully those issues will ve addressed. The prop is to be made from walnut which I think is less prone to those issues.

John

You really have no idea in the beginning if they failed or not or how many things they made that got scrapped shortly after released until they got something to work most the time plus Tenyo has no long time experience with precision wood working so they can be no help only say looks ok go ahead make it. Making things in limited numbers stops the bleeding if it doesn't work they just don't make anymore. Prison box was shown to Tenyo in wood they decided plastic is best and was right when it comes to tight tolerence sliding parts. I am not hoping it fails I just have reservations on this one not swelling or warping just enough to cause inconsitant operation. I will wait to see how well it works when people get theirs. If it works well that is terrific and if it does and they do make a second, third, or 20th run I may have to have one or two. It is a long time classic and wanted by many. It is one many will want and a shame they will not make as many as requested instead of a hard line cut off number.... too bad your out of luck. Walnut is a good choice for a hard wood although I have a walnut puzzle box that when it is just slightly humid some of the sliding pieces don't slide at all so hope it works out for everyone.

Richard

Tenyo has plenty of experience with precision wood and metal work: you've just never seen any of it in the United States.

Richard, I don't think it is Tenyo that produces this. It is build in the USA (correct me if I'm wrong) and it was for that reason MrWizard mentioned his concern.

I believe perhaps it is a bit premature to say the wood may warp, people who bought it don't even have it in their hands yet so we'll have to wait for reviews. But, as Wizard said, it is possible. I have one wooden trick that tends to be almost unperformable when it is too dry and that is Mikame's Card Case. The tolerances on Ultra Tube are very, very 'strict' so we'll have to wait and see.

When Elite decided to make Moonspinner and Fortune Sticks the biggest problem was these items were not gimmicked like we all love from Tenyo and they were still easy available at that time. And they were mass produced which also doesn't help in making it collectible.

After that they decided to produce Zig Zag Cig which was a huge step in the right direction. I did not buy it because the trick is so well known, it is in many cheap magic sets (I for one have 4 versions of the effect). So Elite learned their lesson because they made something 'real Tenyo gimmicked', but unfortunately it was still a trick that was and is easy obtainable. But it's sold out and already some are asking when the next and final run will take place.

Now they made Ultra Tube which is hard to find and cleverly gimmicked. A great choice for most collectors I think. I did not buy it because it was rather expensive and to be honest I doubted too long. I might buy one in the next run, not sure yet. I'd love to hear about people who bought it what they think of it.

When a trick is being produced there will always be people who think it was a good choice and there will be those who think it was a bad choice. I do know Ultra Tube was one item many Tenyo collectors really wanted to be available in Elite form so again, it was a good choice of Elite, hence the fact it was sold out in a matter of hours.

However, the original Ultra Tube works just fine. Yes, it doesn't look as classy as this Elite version but it's small (smaller then the Elite version I believe), still looks pretty good and works great. And it won't warp This Elite Ultra Tube is a great addition for all lovers of Tenyo and gimmicky apparatus because now was the chance to have one for a more 'normal' price.

Correction: I meant Mikame's Drawer Box, not Card Case.

Great summary David, am surprised you didn't job on this but understand our magic budgets don't go as far as we would like

I love performing Ultra Tube and the original works great but as we know really does look like a toy especially with "Ultra Tube" printed on it. This looks very classy and fingers crossed will work as good as it looks. I believe the size will be very close to the original as was the Zig Zag cig.