I am about to order 30-40 spools of thread and I need a little help deciding on the colors. I'm basically looking for a nice rainbow of popular colors to show potential customers. Thanks in advance!!!!!!

John,

I have done 2 rods of each on black and charcoal blanks....looked really nice

Gudebrod Candy Apple, Cobalt


Dave

John I dont want to come off like a smart allec but they dont make enought colors for me to ever be satisfied. Even Madeira could add stuff and I would most likely buy it. That being said her are some hints.

Blues and Greens are big amongst the outdoors guys
Black and golds are great for the conservative folks who like a rich look.
Pinks(esecially florescent) and Reds usually are big hits with the women and a select group of folks out west here.
Purples and lavenders are surprisingly pretty popular amongst men when they see how they come out on a rod.
Browns are earth tones seem be be selected a lot my fly fishermen.
Now if you are real brave and live out west wild colors and florescents get snapped up in a hurry especially at shows.

Like I said in the beginning. EVERYTHING works.

Based on what Doc said I am proud to say i am an outdoor guy. i do most of my personal rods in Green or blue with ususally metallic silver or J-metallic gunmetal but I also like the Calcutta gold that Gudebrod makes (only available in size A, I think the color is 9009 but could be wrong.

Just about anything that Madeira makes. I also like Gudebrod and Sulky metallics. I'd be hard pressed to come up with favorites but probably blues, greens, reds

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!!

Black :)

Jay

I don't know about most popular, but my favourite bar none is Gudebrod Classic Twist 0221 Black/Orange [www.gudebrod.com].

Met Blue over glitzy gold or Candy apple Red Nylon over Gold or silver (NO CP goes translucent) Great Look. girl friend L:ikes fucia or Mauve over Gold. Also like the Look of the Blk and Gold combo. 6778 Yellow under BLk over RED Trim ring in Center. TOO MANY !!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2006 03:42PM by Barry D Thomas Sr.

You also can't go too wrong with college or professional sports teams colors for some folks. I personally like doing shades of blue and gray with either black, silver, or gold metallic on charcoal blanks. On brown blanks I like either green or burgundy type colors with either gold or silver accents depending on reel seat color, guide color, etc. You will also want to experiment with how colors seem to change depending on whether or not you use CP. The options can become almost limitless when you know the subtleties that can happen within a given color scheme. Have fun using your imagination!

"A bad day of fishing is ALWAYS better than a good day at work."

Blessings,
Dave

That's right about sports teamsor college colors. Here in Texas Cowboys fans and Aggie fan will buy nearly anything with blue and white or maroon and white. I've got a stock of maroon and white for Aggie fly fisherman, they LOVE it.

Ed

I love Metallic Blue....for a real stand out look.

And I've used Chestnut on some fly rods......It looks great. Very subtle...not flashy...just classic. with a sunburst trim...no CP...It produced my favorite looking fly rod.

Garnet always looks good!

There you go...

Keith

Back in the day you'd see a bright yellow rod blank with red and orange wraps. More recently the trend has been what I call stealth wraps, Dark colors that either mimic or colsely compliment the rod blank color, SO: Black, get plenty, Brown, Burgundy/Plum, Green are about the most popular. I have many shades of each (save black,but hold the dark navy/cobalt blue when it is so close to black you can't really tell)

Now your building custom rods so you can sell that color option to customers, but unless the customer has a combo established , they most likly just come up with their favorite color, not color combination, it is up to you to have some swatches made up or demo swatches that you provide for the customer to approve. The fancy metallic golds (not the gudebrud 9000...too pale) and silvers (Sz "A" as Sz "D" looks like rope and only needed on HD rods) are great colors for trim wraps, Brown with met copper is a good looker. You can also use the met trim wrap colors and match them to the reel seat/guide frame hardware and make a theme rod. I have also used subtle thread wrap band colors inside a main fielded color; say a Met red bronze (great on plum or brown blanks) with internal met red 2 or 3 wrap bands.

Every time I build a rod with a new coor combo I add it to my thread swatch (swatches made from the lonest blk matte waste carbon arrow shafts the archery shop can produce) I hand the client 6 or 7 of these swatch shafts and ask him if there is any thing he sees he likes. Look through the photo section of this site for thread color combo ideas.

There is an online Guide Wrap Colour Combo Tester here:
[tightwraps.com]

Look under the Utilities heading.

regards


Dave Boyle
[www.threadcentral.net]

My favorite on black/grey blanks is Garnet w/Silver trim.

My favorite personal color is blue. That said, lately I've been asked to wrap a lot of rods' guides with Gudebrod's Green Electra HT. Try a spool of that; it does make the guides look pretty nice, even to this "blue" nut.

Putter
Williston, ND

All the metallics. AHHHH heck. Way to many to choose from. Just get them all. Maderia has some VERY nice colors.

Thanks a ton everyone!!! I would have never thought about college team colors. That was a huge suggestion!!!

I've seen a nice collection of Maderia thread in craft stores. Is rod building Maderia made differently or is it all the same stuff?

My favorite Gudebrod nylons are the following: garnet, black, dk. brown, med. brown, dark green, olive, and gold metal. Throw in a dark blue and you'll probably cover every base for the men. For the women, greens and pinks seem to do the trick.

Let me put my .02 in as I use sewing threads like Madeira, Sulky, and Coates & Clark Trilobal almost exclusively. Polyester or Nylon threads only.....Learned from personal experience that Rayon threads just don't work even though they come in great colors. I used sewing threads because I can purchase them locally.......See them, feel them, I have even taken rod blanks into my local thread source for color choosing...The ladies there all know by name I am afraid to say. Be prepared to use color preserver at all times if you are using sewing thread or suffer the agony when applying epoxy rod finishes.

Color selection is a tough one.

Metallics......Just don't hesitate....BUY THEM ALL.

Non-Metallics....Let's see....white, lt. yellow, golden rod, yellow-orange, orange, persimmon, black, at least three or four shades each of red, blue, green, brown, purple, red/black twist, blue/black twist, copper/black twist, green/black twist, the flourescent Madeiras (if you can handle the colors)...it goes on and on.

I would love to see a picture of the thread coloections some of these other guys have. Personally, I have more thread laying around than my mother and sister COMBINED.

Cheers!



Derek L. McMaster
Rohnert Park, CA

Born to Fish, FORCED to Work

John,

What you need is Madeira POLYNEON #40 Rayon or the others is not suitable for rods. One thing to keep in mind is you have to use CP with it. It is awesome thread www.madeirausa.com 350+ vibrant colors. @#$%&.com (sponsor on the left ) now carries it.

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!!