I’m not about to pay $25 just so I can get a “certificate of membership” to something. And the magazine they offer is more of a glorified newsletter. Their conclaves hardly draw anybody and there is a fee associated with those. If it were any good a lot more people would have joined it over the years and the fact that they haven’t seems to me to prove out what most people here have been saying. They don't offer anything or enough for it to be worth the money to most rod builders. There is more learning and sharing going on outside of it than in it. Better and larger shows and seminars and websites and magazines are taking place outside of it than in it. So what are you paying for other than to put money in somebody else's pocket?

When I was selling rods nobody asked to see any sort of professional logo on my business cards. They just wanted to see what kind of work I did. Most people have eyes and can tell if your work is any good or not. Plus if you did have such a thing it would have to a club or group that was well known and highly respected. In this case I'll just let sleeping dogs lie. I think we all know the answer to that one.

This is what anybody trying to start a national rod building club is going to come up against. There is just to much good stuff already going on for you to be able to offer anything similar and expect people to pay for it.

I'm aware of that club but it's not really what I had in mind. I wouldn't want to just duplicate what others are already doing and in most cases are already doing much better and at no cost. I think that's why they haven't attracted many members. I was thinking more of offering some things for the professional builders that aren't currently offered.

The old BassMaster group used to issue you an insurance or reward of up to $500 for a lost or stolen fishing boat. Maybe rod builders would like the opportunity to have insurance on their shops or some sort of co-op advertising. I don't know. Just throwing these things out there for discussion. I really don't have any idea how many people are involved in selling custom rods so I can't judge if there are enough builders to make any of it worthwhile. And I wasn't proposing to start such a thing myself. Just kicking around some ideas in case somebody else had similar thoughts going.

Most rod builders are covered, insurance-wise, by their homeowners policies. If you're talking about product liability insurance, I'm not sure you would ever have enough builders on board, at a reasonable fee, to purchase such coverage for everyone.

Co-op advertising? TackleWorks. Website? Take your pick. Discounts? Name one dealer who isn't discounting products to the bone already. Seminars, education or business related ideas? RodMaker, National Rod Building Show, local gatherings, etc. It's already out there and for very little to no money.

Dale Clemens told me not too very long ago, that in its heyday, RodCrafters had as many as 2600 members. Most joined to get the magazine, obviously, as less than 8% of them ever attended a regional seminar. Someone above asked if he could have succeeded with RodCrafters in the modern era of the internet. Hard to say, but I doubt he would have attracted anywhere near that number and 2600 members does not constitute a large organization to begin with.

Not trying to shoot down your hopes, but I've run this through my mind on more than one occasion and really don't see much that you (or anyone else) could offer that would entice folks to join. I'm still all ears, but I'm not seeing anything here that seems to be generating any excitement.

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Unless you had a party with alterior motives (trying to drive whatever product they were pushing) I don't think you would ever see a national type of rod building organization. I agree with many of the folks...it would bring too much politics to this craft.

I learned how to build rods through a local flyfishing club I am a member of....every year they put on a small rodbuilding class. I think it should stay grass roots. This site is an incredible source with vast amounts of knowledge being shared. Sometimes the best things shared are the mistakes people make. I don't know of too many professional organizations that are this humble.

I have no interest in joining a national rod building organization.

It could have already been done. Suppose IF Tom made this site accessible only to Rodmaker subscribers, IF the National Rod Builders Show was only accessible to Rodmaker subscribers. That would constitute an organization with a ton of members.

That might seem reasonable, but in reality it wouldn't work out that way. Most would simply go elsewhere. Those who are looking for a free resource cannot be made to join for a fee. And like it or not, for most people, free beats fee any day. For most people.

I watched this happen with the Primitive Archer Magazine. Their website was bleeding readers away from the magazine so they decided that in order to access the website you'd have to become a subscriber. The numbers for both fell. I need to check back and see if they ever came back up. I'd doubt it.

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NERBS.

Gotta love those little clubs that do it for the love of the craft; wish I lived in the NE!! I'd be at every meeting (do they sell PBR 'round there?)... ;)

Putter
Williston, ND

I ordered the RM back issue with the excise tax article this morning. Also the one on pricing that I missed. These were the type things I thought a professional organization could provide but I can see that they're already available. I just didn't look hard enough.

I appreciate all the many good points and devil's advocate thinking going on in this topic thread. Outside of small local clubs I guess I have to now agree that there really isn't much that any sort of national organization could offer to attract enough members to make it worthwhile. I did enjoy the give and take.

The excise tax article is in the online library section here on this site. Do keep in mind that the tax is now capped at a maximum of $10 or 10%, whichever is less.

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