Just picked up a South Bend 57 C. Anyone know anything about this rod?

Also the butt section of the rod under where the reel seat would be is gone. All cork is there and all bamboo seems to be in pretty good shape except for the broken part under the reel seat. Any way I can restore this? I have never worked with bamboo but, have built several rods and have all equipment to do so. Would like to be able to fish the rod and get it back in shape. First try at this. Also am going to replace grip so that is no problem.

Only paid $35.00 for the rod so no big deal. Would like to get into resoring and this seemed like a good start.

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance

Anthony Pagley



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/01/2007 12:33AM by Anthony Pagley.

Quite a few of the production SB rods have a 5/8" dowel insert, the butt sectin is set into a hole that is drilled in the end of the dowel .. about 2" - 2 1/2" , the cork and the r/s are attached to the dowel rod. Don't have a glue why they did that,, just know that it is a shock, the 1st time you go to replace a reel seat and cork grip to find out there is no bamboo under them.


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Many graphite fly rods are made this same way - a scrap of glass or similar tubing is used for the handle area and the blank is inserted into it just aft of the forward edge of the grip.

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maybe this was a production technique. the handles were made on a separate production line then fitted to the rod later.

You would think that if it were a production technique, it would follow on all their rods,,, but it doesn't.. I don't known why they did it, your idea makes since, but then you would think that they would do it on all the models.

I know it is a pain in the BUTT SECTION to try to get the rod rebuilt using the same technique, you have to use over sized cork rings,, or you run the risk of butchering the smaller rings when you try to bore them to 5/8" id.

I am sure there was a good reason for it ,,, back then !

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It allowed them to utilize bamboo strips that would otherwise not have been long enough to use on the full length butt section.

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I bought a used rod that was supposed to be a Heddon. But it had the dowel extended butt as you describe. I turned the reel seat insert and the dowel under the handle from one piece of maple. I drilled the end and inserted the bamboo and did a tight wrap over the outside of the dowel to keep it from splitting. Then I built the cork directly on the dowel, covering the joint, and a couple of corks up on the bamboo. Seems to work like a charm. Beware, though, when lining up the reel seat on a bamboo it has to match one of the flats on the hex blank. (Yeah, I got to do the joint twice). You can not just put it anywhere. I drilled the large holes in the cork in the lathe, chucking each ring in a 3 jaw and using a brad point bit to drill. Worked okay.

This rod seems to cast and fish fine. Personally, I like to feel the rod flex under the handle. But a lot of bamboo rods, T&T for example, swelled the butts so that the rod had no bend under the handle and they seem to be fine also. I used wipe on Tru-oil to finish the rod and finished the wraps with Tru-oil.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/01/2007 02:12PM by Bill Moschler.

Remember too, bamboo , just like any other rod has a spine too !



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I bought an old 9 foot bamboo South Bend 3 piece rod last year. I cut off the reel seat and grip and left about 12 inches of the butt section. I removed the guides, stripped off the varnish, mounted a new seat, grip and all new guidesm and refinished . It made a nice 7 foot 4/5 weight.

Thanks for all the help.

Have another question for you guys. What is the best way to remove the old varnish? Is there any way to keep the old SB labels which are in good shape? Also what would be the best and easiest varnish to re apply? Do you varnish with or without guides wrapped?

Sorry for so many questions. Just want to do it right and have it look good.

Thanks Again,
Anthony Pagley