Ok,
I am going to try this again. The guides needed are the somewhat newer guides with the metal, not ceramic inserts that are being used by Pure Fishing Corp which makes Berkley, Fenwick, and Abu Garcia rods.

I called Pure Fishing. They will not tell me where they buy their parts from. They referred me to Jann's. Jann's has them but does not sell their parts at wholesale.

Customers want the broken guides replaced with the same style and make of guides and tip tops. Problem is, even if I buy a large number, my customers are not going to want to pay full retail and shipping cost for the parts. Does ANYONE know where I can buy these parts wholesale? I am looking about about 1 dozen of each size for single foots in black and chrome, some double foots, and a bunch of tip tops.

Thanks,
Buzz

Buzz, Jann's Netcraft (sponsor on the left) sells them. [www.jannsnetcraft.com] They don't wholesale, but the guides are cheap (in more ways than one) The most expensive one is under a buck.

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

I'm going to have to go with Janns I guess. Really bugs me when I have to replace inferior parts with the same inferior parts but the customer wants them to "look the same" regardless of what I say.

I can understand they wanting to retain the look of the original and to them, those are not inferior guides. Remember, they don't know nearly as much about rod componentry as you do.

As far as them not wanting to pay retail... You set the price and they either accept it and pay it, or they must go elsewhere. Who else around you is going to source the parts and do the work for less? I would hope you'd get the cost of the guide, plus some margin plus your labor. If it costs $10 to $12 to replace just one guide, well... that's what it costs. I'd tell them you can give them what they want, but at a price. Then they can take it or leave it.

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

Wish you had brought this up about a year ago, I had about 1/3 a large coffee can full of them from people that changed to ceramics. I'd have sent them all to you. It had both spinning and casting guides, I threw them in the trash finally.

What Tom said, Buzz..... thread, resin, tape, disposable brush, electric power, the light bulb, the rotesserie, the steadies (rod jig), the guide, and, finally, the skill and experiance you learned to get the guide on true, wrapped with no thread overlap humps, the same length on both feet of a double, resinated nicely, all in a timely manner.
If the guide comes to a dollar or more, small potatoes after you calculate the rest. 10 to 12 for an ace is about right. For multiples, you can adjust the pricing formula to suit, because the thread is already in the tensionator, the light is on, and you are set up.
I'm exhasting my supply of Glass Coat, before moving over to Threadmaster...which also holds promise of a fast set/cure time.
For super-fast must have fixes, I use 5 minute resin, advising the rodster that the fix will hold for years, but will look yukky in about 2 days.....I repeat this again, with the sport, in front of witnesses, so there will be no poor workmanship whining and snivelling down the road...either he takes the fix like this, or waits till the next day for proper resin.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/15/2006 01:10AM by Ken Driedger.