Are any production pool cues as good as custom cues?

Maybe. You get what you pay for is a quote that does include cues. Major production cue manufacturers can afford to have quality controls equal to those of a custom cue maker to prevent the cue from warping. Cues that have little intricacy, which is measured from Level 1 (no intricacy) to 7 (very intricate with more than 125 inlays), can be as good from both. The close attention that is paid to a custom cue cannot be matched with a production cue, but for the best cues, this affects the design and not the playability.