Hi Everyone,

I've done a small update to the CCS Data Site to include a spot to submit CCF (Frequency) data. A column has also been added to each "page" of CCS data to include the CCF numbers as they get submitted. So far, we have one rod with the frequency data. See if you can find it & then congratulate the 1st builder to add the measurement to the site.

Thanks

Bob Hesser
CCS Data Site Publisher.

Good work Bob and thanks for all your efforts. You are doing a great service that many of us really appreciate. And good job Doug Weber for your CCF entry. I haven't measured CCF yet so I need to give that a try on some of the rods and blanks I have. I guess with CCF for built rods, it's pretty important to comment on the type and size of guides used. Do you all agree? As we have found, it's really not that important for ERN, unless you truly use huge and many guides.

Steve

The CCF should be taken without guides installed, otherwise, the figure you're looking at will only be valid if you're using the exact same guides in the exact same location. You can read more about this in the upcoming issue of RodMaker.

While the AA and ERN won't change between blank and finished rod (ERN could drop slightly), the CCF will certainly reflect any addition of guides, wraps, thread, finish, etc. In order to compare blank to blank, you'd want to take this reading with the blank in its naked state.

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Tom, that makes sense and I understand that for us to compare CCF values with each other, the blank would have to be bare or the builder would have to give very specific rod specs (guide model, size, location and number) for them to be meaningful, and that would be cumbersome. But, for those interested in comparing our own rods to establish a certain profile of ERN/AA/CCF that seems to meet our personal preferences, measuring the rod in it's fishable condition could be very useful. So, in terms of the database, you're saying only the "blank" page should have entries for CCF, not the "rod" page? That's probably the only practical way to do it since expanding the comment section to include all the guide data would be a nightmare for Bob.

Right - there are just too many varibles once you complete the rod for the CCF to have any real use there. In fact, a guy could build a rod with underwraps, "footballed" finish and perhaps a few extra guides and you'd find yourself looking at a CCF figure which might paint the blank in a very, very bad light, when all the time the problem was with how it was built. To get an idea just how widely this can vary, even with the same blank, hang on for the article in the upcoming issue of RodMaker (mailed today) which details how even the exact same blank built with different guides can go from a stellar perfomer to a real dog, just because of the guides used or how they happen to be located.

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It would be interesting to have some before and after numbers to get an idea how big is the effect of adding guides, wraps etc. What's attached out near the tip will have a much greater effect than what is added further back.

Mike

Exactly - and you can see such comparisons in the new issue of RodMaker. Guides, and their location, do indeed make a huge difference.


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While I agree that CCF values for rod blanks are the most important data, I do believe that CCF data on FACTORY BUILT FINISHED RODS could be very useful for comparative purposes. One would expect the factors related to hardware would be constant.

If you think about it, you really have to have a tiptop and a few guides on a rod if you want to go fishing with it. It remains to be seen whether there is an advantage to say using single foot guides and whipping one on in place of a tiptop to minimize the the effect on rod frequency. Durability and fishability count for something. Differences in the style of a build of a rod may not amount to much more that having a couple of more feet of fly line out.

Mike McGuire

From the hardware chosen to its location, I find that these are not very constant from builder to builder. I firmly believe this is why one builder can turn out a gem of a rod on the same blank that another can only turn into something barely useable.

But either way is fine, as long as you understand what you're looking at when you see that CCF number - bare blank or finished rod.

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