Tom i sent you a post last year about being impressed with a large collection of work by this builder,I believe it was meet with mixed reviews. I returned to the same fishing show this year with another year of rod building under my belt and looked over his work very carefully his wood handles,butt wraps and feather inlays were nice. I asked him about his guide selection on some of his rods i thought they were to large and to far off the blank he told me I was probably right but his rod has a lifetime warranty and the smaller single foot guides would not last. Iasked him about his blanks he told me he was one of the largest blank makers in the counrty 54 million mod and 78 million mod and he also had an industry first a multi composite blank. I asked to see one it looked like an american tackle matrix (green twill)but only half way up the blank it looked like he had sanded the twill out of the top section of the blank,he had no explanation when i mentioned the matrix he changed the subject.I guess what i realized this year was that none of these are custom rods they are just mass produced by him or his builders.I guess i just wanted to say thanks i feel that i have a whole new set of eyes when looking at fishing rods now.I asked him about the convention he said he new nothing about it,you would think a self proclaimed two time rod building world champion would know this. In the end i guess i see him more as a salesman than a rodbuilder.

Sam,
If someone told you that they were making a blank that was 78 million modulus they are indeed a salesman. Plus there are several blank manufacturers that are making blanks from multi-modulus material.

Emory,
I new he was full of it but last year i did not. I no I am still a beginner but i feel i have learned a great deal in a year . Great web sight,great people. Also i just saw a bass pro shops catalog with an 84 million mod blank.Where will it end!

And the twill on the American Tackle blanks only goes part way up the blank - he didn't even have to sand any thing out... It was never there.

Jim isn't doing anything that most commercial rod operations, or any commercial product manufacturer, isn't doing to some degree. "Sell the sizzle, not just the steak." You know better, because as a custom builder you have greater insight on some of these matters than the average fisherman does. But Jim's built a nice business and has found his niche. We can disagree on some of his advertising content, but there's no point in giving him a hard time on his claims. After all, we're not the people he's trying to sell rods to.

...........

Ken,
That is unbelievable i have only seen the matrix blanks in a catatog and thought the twill ran all the way down the blank



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2005 08:25AM by Tom Kirkman.

As Tom said "sizzle" and he's just "marketing" . I wish him and his customers well.

Sam,
I have several of the catalogs from the manufacturers of the prepreg, the material that blanks are made of, and I have not seen anything that had a modulus of 84 million. But there may well be 84 million graphite fibers available. However, when the modulus of the scrim and the resin and the finish are added the modulus of the blanks will be less than half of the modulus of the graphite fiber by it's self.

Tom,
I see "selling the sizzle" as you put it as emphasizing the strengths of a product while minumizing it's shortcomings and I suppose that is fair. Out and out deception is another matter. In my humble judgement people who make claims about products that they KNOW to be untrue belong in jail. They are no less a thief than someone who breaks into your home or your car.

Here's the flip side of the coin...

I recently had a customer who gave me a great testimonial which included comments about how there was no comparison between the custom musky rod I built for him and his other so-called "custom" Jim Grandt and Fig Rig rods he had purchased in the past. He is now a repeat customer and will likely continue to be.

Even though it was no news to me... that kind of feedback looks darn good on my homepage to prospective customers.

Hmmm... does that mean I get the world rodbuilding champion belt? :-)

Erik

Lets be real people. This guy with all his ( bull ) is selling to people that don't know any better
Buyer beware?? With numbers that high on his graphite, I would be afread to use it. Tooooo frigle! But people don't know this. He's probably making a killing??? Dame shame!!
What do they call that - Marketing???

Somebody should walk into his booth with one of their own custom rods, and ask him to put hiw World Rodbuilding Title Belt on the line. No holds barred, one on one rodbuilding contest. See if he can defend his title. lol, what a joke.

Bright lights, metalic threads, spoxy wood handles - shiny must be expensive.

I got one of those belts ---- holds up my paints LOL

I thought all the "World Champion" rodbuilders were on this site? LOL!

Regards......Doug@
TCRds

It'd be a tough cintest wouldn't it? HHMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bill in WV