My Cousin gave me this really old 7 foot medium action rod this weekend to refurbish. I believe it is fiberglass and a sort of Pumkin orange. It is the strangest colour you can imagine and I think that is partly why he likes it so much. Anyway I have been stripping off the old guides which have been wrapped with a garnet coloured thread wrap and a underwrap of white, which is not even thread but white paint. The guides are old Fugi double footed chrome finish with black rings and white inserts. It is very plain looking and I was hoping to perhaps stick with a double footed guide as a stripping guide and then change his double footed guide set to a single footed guides. I was wondering if anyone has finished a similar coloured blank and had some suggestion for thread colour combos and guide finishes that would give this old retrobate some WOW factor. As I said he seems to like the attention this Pumkin stick attracts so I thought lets have some fun with the colours that wrap this rod up.
Ok guys lets have them.

Thanks
Steve

Pumpkin is nothing...............[www.rodbuilding.org]

Did you say Pumpkin colored? heheheh Why not choose a green, yellow, and maybe dark brown color scheme. If it looks like pumpkin skin, make a jack-o-latern out of it. That'll get some looks. If you really wanted to go wild, go to Mudhole and purchase some of those single footer halo guides in green or yellow.

Endless possibilities!

Domenic

Steve,

I just redid and old and cherished piece of cr*p rod for a friend. It was that funny pumpkin color, the metal trigger reel seat was brown and the old guide wraps were black/white twist over a painted black 'underwrap'. Had all steel guides.

I replaced the guides with gold frame single foots, except for the stripper, used a double foot there. Used bright green/black twist rayon thread for the guide wraps. Painted the reel seat bright green. Did a three inch black butt wrap with green amhearst pheasant feather inlay. Came out pretty spiffy for a base rod that you can buy for fifty cents at most swap meets or garage sales.

Guys a friend, he loves the rod, and broke a guide and asked me to 'fix' it. Wait until he sees it!! The surprise on his face will be worth the effort....

Good Luck!

Buddy

Steve, Selecting colors can be simplified by actually wrapping strips of each color you are cinsidering on the blank. You do not need to use thread to narrow the field. Any color you see in a magazine is helpful. If you don't mind forfeiting the page, jsut cut a strip of the color and wrap it on the blank. Attach with a tiny piece of clear tape. Old magazines are great sources for this. Color samples from any paint department are another source. Color charts from an art supply store are also great. The fact remains that nothing will be as helpful as actually looking at the colors side by side. Let your eye dictate the combinations that it finds appealing. Enter the process with an open mind without eliminating any color as a possibility. Do this under good lighting conditions. It is important the there is no border separating the color sample from the blank. After you find a few colors that really pplease your eye, tape them up with some distance between each. cover all but one section at a time and step back and look. Then, after some time, coer it up and try another selection. REpeat this...and your eye will lead you to your favorite among them. Trim can be determined the same way, but here you might prefer to use thread. It will only take a few wraps to see how the colors interact. A good tip is to walk away for a while and then return for a fresh view. Sometimes I let the blanks stand nearby with the color combinations taped up (or wrapped on) so that I can study them briefly over the course of several days. It is a pleasant way to ease into the selection of the final choice.

A color wheel is also helpful in narrowing your selections. The wheel will show you the colors that are related to orange. The relationships between colors follow scientific rules. This does not mean these rules are necessarily the best solutions for any particular person or project. They do, however, give one a good starting point.

Just as each rod builder has had to train themselves in the use of the tools and materials of the craft, the skill of color selection can be improved through careful attention and experimentation. Unless one is truly color blind there is no reason a person cannot raise their level of color sensibility. The key is to keep an open mind and learn to slow down and let your eyes discover what truly is pleasing to them. It is like developing a taste for a new music or a new food. Through practice one will realize their tastes are improving. Your color selections are as much a signature of your custom work as any other part of the rods you build. If the client dictates the colors that's different. When the choice is up to you it is an opportunity to add your personal touch to your custom rod.
Dave