I had someone ask me recently if there was a difference in action between 2 pc. and 3, 4 or 5 pc rod that are the same model length and weight. I honestly don't know so I decided to find out. I did a search and found a thread from last summer that breifly touched on the subject. I also went to CCS data site to see if I could dig up anything there. For rods that were in CCS site that were same model, length and wt. (not many) there was some difference in the ERN and AA numbers. But I also noticed that rods that were the same lenth, wt and model had some differences also.
So, can anyone address this? Are there differences?

Joe

There is no real direct correlation between number of pieces of a rod and it's action. The design of the overall rod will determine its action.

Rob is correct. Action is something that it created by the taper and wall thickness of the rod along its length. It is certainly possible to produce the same model in both single, 2, 3 or even 4 piece rods and have all possess the same action.

The thing is, often the multi-piece rods have been designed to actually have a different action. It depends upon when they were put into the company's line and what they were designed to be used for.

I think a lot of people who ask about multi-piece rods and their action aren't really talking about "action," however. They're wanting to know if a multi-piece rod feels the same as the one piece counterpart. In most cases, the average guy would be hard pressed to tell the difference. This wasn't always so, with older metal ferrules in particular. But most modern multi-piece rods would never be discerned as such by anyone holding them and wearing a blindfold.

......

Thanks Tom and Rob. When you look a these rods there is a difference in wt. and even butt size but I guess because its slight that most of couldn't tell the difference. I'm sure with the technology these days they can design them to be pretty precise.
The only place then we can realy see the difference is $. Yikes.

JOE

As a long time user of two piece fly rods I was apprehensive about using three and heaven forbid even four piece rods. I have, however managed to put this behind me and now build mostly on three and four piece blanks. There can be a difference between a four piece and two piece blank as you observed on the CCS data site but I think Tom has hit on the major consideration and that is the purpose the manufacturer intended for the rod. I now most often look for a four piece blank that has the characteristics I choose and am not worried about whether or not it's two piece counterpart is similar.

Stan Grace
Helena, MT
"Our best is none too good"

I have experienced a big difference with a Sage RPLXI 990-3 (9feet class 9 three piece design) and a Sage RPLXI 990 (9 feet class 8 two piece design). The two piece model was much straighter than the 3 piece model, I love it very much.

By incidence I had the chance to inspect a RPLXI 890-5 wich felt assembled a little tippy but I had no chance to make a direct comparision by casting. This is something I did with the mentioned class 9 rods above with exactly the same line/leader setup.

RGDS,
Ole

Ellerau/Germany

I think that it makes sense, in the absence of CCS data avaiability for a specific model, to ask questions and not make assumptions. I was once very disappointed by assuming the St. Croix 4F864.4 and 4FT864 4pc. models were designed to be the same as the old 4F864 2pc. I figured I would add the convenience of a 4pc. model to my favorite rod. Except that the 4F864 and 4F864.4 aren't similar rods at all. The 4pc. model is not as fast and has much more power. They don't test the same and they sure don't feel the same.

I hear and understand the comments made about how sometimes the blanks are not intended by the blank designer to be similar. Still, if I were a blank designer and had the capability to make them the same (as Tom says they do), I would make them as close to the same as possible. That would make things much less confusing and irritating for the customer. Or if people used the CCS more and posted data (manufacturers, vendors, builders, and anglers), this would be a non issue.

Yea, Steve I can feel your pain. Not long ago I loaned a friend of mine my Loomis GL3 9' 5wt. He loved it and wanted the same series rod but in the 8' 6" length, same rod just 6" shorter, right? Wrong. Shorter rod but much more powerful and doesn't feel or work anything like the 9'. Go figure. I can't tell you how many times this happens since there is no standardization among manufactureres, let alone within a single manufacturerer's line. Dummies like me should know better and as much as I love my Park Falls boys, they are some of the most inconsistant, or at least their design intentions are often a mystery to me.