Hello, I have a few questions. What size thread is should I use on 7wt, 9wt and 10wt fly rods? Also, what colors look good on dark green, sky blue, and gloss brown blanks? Thank you..


James M. Dement

I would use A size for all those.

Colors, go to any art supply and get a color wheel. Quickly identify all harmonies or contrasting colors that work well together. Otherwise, just look over consumer goods and window displays for similar colors and combinations put together by designers who are skilled in color use. Check out the colors used for exterior/interior on cars. Then look at the liquidation merchandise for colors that don't sell well for poor combinations to stay away from.

Dark Green, Chestnut with gold trim, think earth colors.
Sky Blue, reds for contrast, dark blue for harmony.
Brown, earth again, Olive with gold trim.

For any color, think grey to black with gold or silver trim.

Size "A" nylon or "00" silk IMHO!
Colors are a personal decision

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..

About color - Use the ones that look good to you or your customer. If that is not enough and you want to learn ALL about color look at the site below and click on "Lets Paint" - and then select the "Color Wheel" at the top right of the page. On the left side you will see how colors are combined in monochromatic, contrasting, and all other forms in the world of color professionals. When you spend a few days deciding on what you would like come back and tell us just how you ended up doing the rod.

[www.benjaminmoore.com]

James:
This is a "visual wrap" color sampler where you can select your own colors. Bob

[www.tightwraps.com]

Thanks for all the info guys.

James M. Dement

I built a 7 wt. for a fishing buddy and used a gloss brown blank. I used Gudebrod size A thread. The color is garnet with white for the trim. It came out very nicely. On the green blank I would probably use green with a gold trim, on the blue blank, light blue thread with silver trim.

Ellis, from the world of color freaks you would be called a "monochromatic shady type". The spots on a redfish are called "contrasting blotches" - your color choices result from spectrum changes from adjoining colors on the color wheel. It would be curious to know how many rodbuilders know how many primary colors there are? Wanna guess?

Red ,blue and yellow, but color is really a spectrum...about 400 to 700 nanometers. Just remember you perceive a different color if you add OBA's to the final product. OBA's are optical brightning agents. OBA's are seen in the UV sprectrum..measuring color with UV on versus UV off gives the person a flourescence index..

Enough on color theory, color is personal and I like the bright neon colors versus the traditional blue, black and red...I want to make a rod stand out. Maybe since I grew up in the 80's and neon colors were so prevelent especially in the Ski clothes, it reminds of good times..

Ernie

TITLE: "Gudebrod Thread Table: Strength & Weight of Guide Wraps for Size 2/0 - E" ... For general reference, a Table of Calculated Strengths and Weights of UNFINISHED Gudebrod Thread Wraps for Sizes 2/0-E, for Silk, Regular Nylon, NCP and HT Metallics, assuming a thread wrap bandwidth of 1 cm, around a rod blank of circumference of 1 cm (OD = 1/Pi = 3.18 mm), is available at: [www.rodbuilding.org] (Calculated values, not direct "in-situ" measurements. -Cliff Hall+++, Gainesville, FL-USA*****

Hey William,
I have been called worse in three different languages (lol). I used to spend days with a color wheel trying to decide on a color scheme. Nowadays I close my eyes and reach for a spool of thread. Really, I try to keep my rod building very simple.