I just finished my first rod and put on a hunter green trim with a gold strand in the center on each side of a bass decal on the butt section. I put a coat of finish on it and the green is now very dark and you can't tell there is any gold in it. I used Cabela's finish on it. I used the same finish on the guide wraps and there was no problem with that (the thread was metallic old with brown trim).
Should I have just put on some color preserver or is there another type of finish that I should use on my next one?

Thank you for your help.

Warren

By not using Color Preserver, your thread will turn very dark and translucent. Many like that look! If you want the final color to br vibrant and pretty much look like the thread on the spool, you have to use CP. You can also use NCP thread which ends up pretty dull looking (like flat paint) and, IN MY OPINION, is not very attractive (although many will disaagree)

Mike

Yeah, this is part of the pain of learning. But you don't forget once you learn these things the hard way like most of us did...

Putter

Methinks you really wanted to do the narrow trim band with a metallic thread.

Gon Fishn

Hi Warren. My first rod I built was a Cabelas kit. It was a green blank and it came with Gold, green, and brown thread. I beleive the reason they use that color green is that it matches there Fish Eagle series rods and blanks when no color preserver is used.

By the Way! I forgot - Sir, your are to be commended - first rod - single thread inlay and narrow trim band - now that is a fine accomplishment to start with!!

Gon Fishn

I agee with Bill that is a great accomplishment for a nebie
Good Wraps Bob

Thanks for the help and the compliments. It took me all afternoon to get it right but I'm not that upset as I figured I would make some mistakes somewhere.
The Metalic Gold that I used on the wraps came from Cabelas with a kit. The other thread I used didn't and wasn't NCP and since the guide wraps looked so good it ddidn't even occur to me to think about using the preserver on the other thread. Live and learn. I have an old broken rod that I will shortly put on some thread and see the difference between what I did and didn't do. The rod still looks pretty good but I bet that the fish won't care one bit how it looks.

Thanks again!

Warren.