In the "Going Proffessional" post the subject of warranties on rods for customers came up. I recently built a 2 piece u/l spin rod for a customer, he wanted a "trout" rod, the blank was a St Croix, He broke it on what he said was a 20lb steelhead (yea right) fortunately he was a good customer, the bottom part broke, I replaced it but had to eat the reel seat and cork grips and labor time to re-assemble . so my question is, when a customer breaks a rod what type of warranties do you offer as a rodcrafter.

I opened a custom rod shop in a very up scale marina here in Virginia Beach, Va. in May 1992 and it has passed all expectations I ever dreamed about. One of the things that has paid off big time is my no questions asked breakage policy. I repair or replace the rod the first time it is broken no questions asked at no cost to the customer. This has paid off big time in word of mouth addvertising [ the best kind]about how I stand behind my product. This may no work for everyone but it sure does for me. Jesse

I would guarantee the rod against defects, but not against breakage. There is a difference.

Your customer may well have broken the rod on a 20lb fish, but only a week after having smacked the rod on something. Damage from impact may not cause failure until some time later. Maybe on the next cast, but maybe not until the next large fish, or the one after that.

The important thing for custom builders is to have an ironclad, written warranty policy in place before you sell the first rod. Discuss it with your customer and make sure he understands the difference between defects and failures due to other things (which account for probably 98% of all rod failures.

Do a search here on this topic and you'll turn up dozens of past posts on the subject.

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Like all have said. It is good " PR " to maybe rebuild the first break. Stupidity comes to mind. A lot of fisherman tend to think there custom rod will handle any thing ???
I am starting to think that is is better to have a price for the handle and seat for a break rebuild. At least you get some parts and labor for it ??

I did do one breakage. Rebuilt the whole rod and tried to clean keep the seat and handle. Real pain in the , well you know. Told the guy if he breaks it again he pays for a complete rod. The price was very good. !!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/2005 04:59PM by bill boettcher.

Bill, You are right about it being PR in repairing the first one free. There is no way you are going to come out ahead if you refuse to believe what the customer is telling you even though the two of you know he is lying about what happened. Most people [especially fishermen] hate to admit they did something stupid so they try to convince other people it was not their fault but that the rod was defective and they will not change the story no matter what. If you don't agree with them then you are calling them a liar and they will spread the word that you will not stand behind your product. If you do repair or replace the rod at no cost then you are the best thing since sliced bread and he will spread that word also. About 99.9% of the broken rods that come back are the graphite casting and spinning rods, since I buy these blanks by the hundred the material cost is not so great as all the other componets are reused where possible. Jesse

Jesse

I am still thinking of a fast way to clean out the old blank from a fancy handle the guy wants to keep.
Simple handles are not to bad to rebuild if the blank is gotten with a warrantee.
Hate to tell some one if they get a cheap blank, and it breaks, it is a full rod charge ?
Only had one so far, knock on wood.

Still pondering that.

Bill, Most of my rods have the encapsulated grips which I really need to reuse due to the time and expense making one so here is how I do it. Cut the blank at the forward end of the reel seat and cut the blank at the forward end of the grip. Bore out the old blank from the grip and the grip is ready to reuse.Select your new blank and cut to be the length from the front of the reel seat to the tip end of the rod.Make an enternal plug that fits about 3" into the butt end and 3"into the forward end, I usually glue the plug into the butt end and let it sit overnight and glue the new blank the next day making sure the spine is in line with the reel seat. Glue on the grip and reuse the guides and tip if available. Like I said my main breakage is graphite spinners and bait casters so this method works great, it would be another story with fly rods etc. By the way, most of my plugs are solid glass as you can sand them to get good fits on the lathe. Hope this helps. Jesse

There is the magic word " lath ". The last one I did I drilled free hand with a drill. A lath will keep every thing centered and give a clean straight bore.