Nice to hear that things smoothed out somewhat. Also nice to hear the customer come clean on how the rods broke.

Some years back I had a lady in one of my rod building classes who built a 7'6" IM6 4-weight Loomis. She and her boyfriend were going to do some mountain trout fishing. Before she ever got to use the rod, she somehow got the tippet/leader of the lined rod into the business end of her vacuum cleaner which prompty ate its way up to the tip and then some.

She sent the rod back to Loomis with a note "stained with tear drops" (her words, not mine) and told them exactly how she had broken it. She fully expected to pay for a new tip section. Two weeks later she had a new tip section delivered and at no charge.

Honesty is always the best policy and usually pays dividends in the long run.

............

In the "Custom Rod World" I think that I would be considered a high volume builder [ around a thousand a year] so I do not go with the high end blanks unless the customer asks for them of which very few do. I use Gator and Shakespeare for the heavy stuff and "no name" graphite for the light stuff.I buy direct from everyone but Aftco so don't have a lot tied up in components.I have a no questions asked repair/replacement policy on breakage the "first" time, I tell them I'm going to get in their pocket the 2nd time so rarely see them come back, even them I rarely charge them. This policy over the years has given me a reputation beyond reproach on standing behind my product and word of mouth is the best advertisement there is. This approach is not for everyone but it works well for me with no end in site. Jesse