Do commercial rod manufacturing companies do a manual installation of guides and wraps or is there an automated process?

Does anyone have a link to a commercial process

thanks dick

Dick,
Most that I know of "farm" out the guide wrapping to people looking for a few extra bucks. They get paid by the piece, so thats why most (not all) production rods you see the guides aren't placed very well.
Hope this helps,
Noel Spann

When you come right down to it, all rods whether commercially made or custom made by a guy in a basement shop, are assembled the same way. There isn't any machine available that will install guides. Although, over the years there have been some wrapping devices that work the opposite of how we're used to doing things - they revolve around the rod and wind the thread while the rod remains stationairy. But you still have to operate the winder, usually with a crank. That's probably about as automated as you can get, and yet none of the commercial makers that I'm aware of uses such a device. They wrap their guides on just like you do.

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

Good friend of mine in Miami has been a commercial rod builder all his life and is in his 70's. He pays out wrappers by the wrap, usually three to five cents per wrap. He showed me a little Flounder rod that he sold for $8.00 wholesale, it had 3 guides, a tip wrap and about a 3" wrap at the butt. Paying five cents a wrap it cost him forty cents to have the rod wrapped. He thought I was crazy for paying $10.00 per rod for wrapping. Jesse

The handler/agent gets approximately $ 0.08 cents per guide in Houston - wonder what the one with the bucket between their legs gets? Insurance, workmens compensation, profit sharing and vacation pay are not in the picture!

Gon Fishn

Dont many big commercial companies have factories overseas. Becase the labor is so cheap? I would think they wrap the guides just like us. Maybe less skilled and carless when lining the guides up?

Eight cents!!!!!!!!!!! WOW!

Maybe $8.00 ea.(dollars!) if you're interested in my doing it :-)

DR