If you ordered a blank (a 12' 6" surf heaver) that lists the tip-top as size 12, and it arrives but proves to take a 9.5, what would you think and do? This has just happened, and I worry that the blank is going to be seriously underpowered for the intended applicaiton (throwing 8 N Bait).

Listed as a 12 and you got a 9.5? My first guess is that someone goofed on the pull order or it was listed in the cataloge wrong. That's just me.

The rest of your question I can't help you with. Sorry

Jay

Something very similar happened to me a few years ago. My son wanted his own fly rod and we looked at a well known name brand rod in a local sporting goods store that also had access to rod blanks. We ordered a 9' 5wt two piece blank in the same model as the finished rod. When the blank came in, labeled 9' 5wt, I looked at the tip section and noted that it was very, very thin. So I brought a micrometer to the store and measured the finished rod tip, then the tip of the blank (accounting for the tip top) I found that the blank’s tip diameter was 2/3 the diameter of the finished rod tip.

I requested that the shop order another blank, which they did, and the rod manufacturer representative refused to provide one. I bought someone else’s blank and never dealt with the original company again. That may have been a harsh reaction, but I didn’t believe they had much concern for customer satisfaction.

Mike's add below is a good one. If you received the wrong blank, request the correct one. If it is the correct blank, and you're concerned about the smaller tip diameter, request that the vendor select one that is closer to the original specification.




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/01/2007 09:55PM by Jeff Shafer.

Before I did anything, I would check with the vendor and make sure it's the right blank (mistakes happen)

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!!

Shouldn't vary by more than about 1/64th at most. Check with the manufacturer to ensure they haven't changed the design or that there isn't a mis-print in the catalog specs.

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Have picked up 3 blanks myself recently,,,,, each one was 1 to 1.5 sizes under the specs for the tip. I measured about 1 inch down from the very end as well, or about tip tube depth. At 2 inches down it starts looking like the spec tip size.

So it is possible they leave them a little under spec to accomodate wrapping the tip and leaving some glue space? Or is the assumption that you trim the tip a bit? Or do they oversize the spec to guarantee that a tip meeting the spec fits? Or is there significant variation in the manufacturing process?

Has anyone seen one over the spec size?

Dave, I'm not as experienced as most guys here, but even still I have seen blanks with tips both smaller and bigger than what's listed in the catalog. Evidently this is a natural result of the way blanks are manufactured (I asked the question a while ago, check out this thread: [www.rodbuilding.org]).

What someone suggested to me then, and has worked well since, is anytime you order a blank and top together, tell the vendor to match the top to the blank. Just about every vendor will do that for you, and it eliminated the headache of getting a shipment only to realize you need another tip.

Blanks are not extruded, they are rolled, taped, trimmed, sanded and finished. What you see listed in the catalog is just a target spec. Few things with this amount of hand labor can hold to these sort of tolerances. You should fully expect any rod blank tip size to easily vary by 1/64th +/- from the target spec.

Rod blanks are not exactly precision instruments in the area of size specifications.

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Thanks for all the replies. It was a catalog misprint. The print catalog lists the tip as a 12, but online as a 10, actual tip is a tight 9.5, further checking with some of the very knowledgable builders here suggests that the blank I have should be fine. (Aside: Another great hting about this board: what you see here may be just the tip of the iceberg. Lots of good info is exchanged via follow-up emails.)