I have been doing a lot of reading on the board and I have come across quite a bit of negativity regarding G Loomis recently. People have said that they are stopping blank production but their website still has lots of info on blanks including full spacing and guide sizing charts. Is this really happening? Normally I would not open a can of worms like this but I felt I had to step up and say something positive. With that said I just received the P844 7' GLX blank that I ordered from Mudhole and WOW. What a beautiful blank! Great looking taper and straight as an arrow. The honey/graphite color is fantastic as well.

Up until now I have only built fly rods and have always stayed with Sage, Winston, and Dan Craft blanks which are all great but this Loomis is as nice a blank as I have ever seen. I hope the rest of the rod ends up doing it justice.

Ok, let flames begin....

Loomis dissed teh builders a few years ago, we're returnign the favor.

I would like to know more about the history of this?

Would you please confirm that the GLX P844 rod blank you have is actually "Honey" colored -

If you do actually have a honey colored GLX blank there may be another story soon to hit the street.

Thanks

It is is really a true graphite color. It seemed to have a bit of a honey sheen to it in the light I was viewing it in when I opened the package (and wrote that post) but it is charcoal in natural light. Sorry for the missleading statement.

Loomis has never done anything to "dis" the custom rod builders. The company was founded in 1982 by Gary Loomis and originally produced rod blanks only. By about 1984 or '85, they had started to produce finished rods. After a slow start, their finished rods began to catch on. In the 1990's, following a losing deal in the golf shaft business, Gary found himself needing to pay off some investors which he could do by either refinancing the company, or selling a portion of it to Shimano. He chose the latter. A few years later, he sold the remaining interest to Shimano.

As happened with Fenwick and many other rod blank companies over the years, Loomis has recently seen their blank sales drop to a level that against their overall sales is no longer enough to justify keeping rod blanks in the line. With the recent switch to "just in time" manufacturing and delivery of their mainstay - finished rods, keeping the blank program going is simply not profitable and detrimental to their continued success in the fishing tackle market.

The fact is, G. Loomis, Inc., pioneered many new technologies in blank making design and materials and forced a good many other companies to improve their own products and developments in order to stay competitive. Folks should be thanking them for the innovations they brought to this industry rather than taking ill-informed pot shots at them.

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Thank you for the unbiased and informative post Tom. I would be curious to know if/when you expect their blank business to cease completely? I ask more for my own curiosity and in case this blank ever needed to be replaced.

To be honest I am surprised that they would walk away from a growing segment of this business. Especially since they need to build blanks for their own rods anyway. Clearly the number of people building rods has grown in the past 5-10 years. I suppose it wouldnt make a huge difference to a giant like Shimano but many of the very successful flyrod companies (like Sage, Winston and T&T for example) still offer access to blanks even though their primary sales have to be in finished rods. I would venture to guess that St. Croix's blank business is close to what their finished rod sales are. Based on what I have read it seems St. Croix reputation has been built through the rod building community.

I guess time will tell if some of these other companies go away from the blank business as well.

When Gary Loomis left Lamiglas to be out on his own he became a Guru of graphite .... YES he did bring a world of innovations to the rod builder but all that came to a screaching halt when he started selling the business off to Shimano. There has been nothing new in the G.Loomis line ever since. I will never SLAM Gary Loomis in any form but Shimano has been living off his name and in my {I said MY} estimation
and MY EYES could care less about the Shimano product under G. Loomis name. I have spoke with G.Loomis warranty people and received a ration every time....They could care less about the rod builder and have shown this to ME by selling inferior blanks, which I will no longer order due to the fact that 3 out of six that "I" ordered was looking like corkscrews. I still have one in my shop that I show potential customers but had to crunch the other two due to the fact I was not going to pay Shimano/G.Loomis twenty dollars each plus shipping costs for unfinished blanks that was their problem in the first place.....Now Tom Kirkman may consider this "slamming" but I call it fore warning my fellow rod builders and if they want to order then"BUYER BEWARE" ....Now I know for a fact that many rodbuilders on this forum spoke of the same problems...
There is no SLAMMING of Gary Loomis....Just bad vibes from "SHIM-a-LOOMIS"

Tight Lines
Tight Wraps
Fishin'Stix by Fred

Marc: Some do not have a reasonable understanding of the blank and rodbuilding business.

It will sound more credible for Tom Kirkman to respond to the statement you made above -

"I would venture to guess that St. Croix's blank business is close to what their finished rod sales are."

If Tom chooses to answer that question you may be flabergasted!

G Loomis blanks are already being discontinued. At this time, vendors can't even place an order ... what is "on the street" is what is available. The complete stoppage is slated for fall, but honestly it already has happened in my eyes. There are three blanks that I use on a regular basis that are completely unavailable and I don't expect that to change.

FYI, the percentage of business that custom builders amounts to ... tiny, tiny and tiny again. St Croix, Lamiglas and other production builders do it for a little "side income" and out of respect. We definitely DO help to build the image, we DO encourage others toward their product line. They are aware AND thankful ... that is why they are at the ICRBE and why they intent listen in regards to new designs.

I will be one of the builders that WILL miss the G Loomis product line. It is going to definitely impact my business. As a builder of only inshore spinning rods, the G Loomis lineup of popping and hotshot blanks makes up a great deal of the best offerings I have available currently. It won't be easy to find replacements for many, others will never be replaced.

Truthfully, it is a "sign of the times". So be sure to FULLY support the manufacturers, distributors and other suppliers that you would like to see stay in business. Each time you go to spend money, pretend that YOUR purchase is the difference between survival and extinction.

When SHimoomis took over they cut teh amount of blanks availble to rodbuilders, thius many builders felt dissed. SO yes, many people feel dissed by Loomano. Forme, Loomis never made the blanks I liked for teh type of fishing I do, so I never was dissed. But tehre are a lot of people who felt this way, which is why you ended up starting this post.

I guess Loomis felt dissed by a certain crop of rodbuilders, who were purcahseing seconds/blems and selling them below factory prices, so that probably prompted them to cut back on teh number of blanks available to rodbuilders.

Billy has hit the nail right on the head....as soon as Shimano got their hands on the Loomis name they brought their axe with them and the looping off of Loomis blanks began and with it there was nothing new coming from Gary Loomis only what Sly-Loomis has been passing off at big bucks and living off the GOOD NAME of Gary Loomis....I must have built a couple hundred of Gary Loomis rods and sadly in the years since have built at the very most a dozen Sly-Loomis....I have the highest regard for Gary Loomis and always will, and wish him the very best in his retirement, and his endevers on his quest on the Salmon and Steelhead is also greatly appreciated.

Tight Lines
Tight Wraps
Fishin'Stix by Fred

To expect a company to keep products in their line, which do not sell well enough to be profitable, is simply not reasonable. And to make disparaging remarks about them simply because they are trying to operate a profitable business (something which all of you here are trying to do) is beyond unreasonable. I wonder how many rod builders would continue their rod building business if they found it unprofitable (and had salaries and overhead that must be paid) and how they would respond when fishermen badmouthed them for getting out of something that wasn't sustainable. If the NERBS events lost say, $200 to $300 per event, would it be wrong of Billy to stop doing them? Or should he be expected to continue them no matter how much the loss simply to avoid "dissing" the rod builders.

The blank sales at G. Loomis, Inc. currently account for less than 3% of their total product sales. St. Croix, currently, has blank sales that account for just about 10% of their total product sales. When or if that figure drops below 5%, they would most likely consider suspending blank sales as well. I guess at that point folks would start badmouthing them as well.

The fact is, this is a very, very, very tough business. Margins are lower than ever before and competition is at all time high. There are more companies offering and selling blanks today that at any previous period in rod building history. It is only reasonable to expect some to drop out of the business when they can no longer afford to operate blank programs that don't pay for themselves. Any one of us that found him or herself at the helm of G. Loomis, Inc. and didn't drop the blank program would be a fool at best and a very poor businessman at worst. None of these companies owe us anything and they cannot possibly operate blank programs at a loss just to coddle custom rod builders. It is unreasonable for anyone to expect a company to do something that they themselves would not do. A little objectivity is in order here.

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Does this mean we will see Loomis blanks in the trash cans at the 2010 ICRBE???!!!

Freddwhy (Rapt-Ryte)

I agree with Billy and Fred. When Shimano got involved Loomis turned it's back on the custom builder. Gone was the ability to buy all the blanks they Loomis used in making their own rods. Gone was the customer service as previously stated. I realized if they didn't care about my business and decided to go elseware and I did so by going on the other side of Hyway I5 and started doing business with Lamiglas who genuinely cares about the custom builder.

Kerry

Darn, I was hoping you agreed with me about the garbage can specials.

Freddwhy (Rapt-Ryte)

Fred LOL!

Obviously some very hard feelings expressed re Shimano's actions with Loomis. Tom really hit the nail on the head though as this is a business, not a charity.

I have built many Loomis fly rod blanks before and after Gary's departure and have never had a problem with their products or services. In fact to this day many customers request Loomis blanks.

Some posts get very cute with their discriptive wording, but it says more about them then the subject of their ire.

While I am the one getting singled out for stating what teh majority of rodbuilders are feeling, it's good to know that there are those coming out and supporting and confirming what I've posted. I could care less what Loomis does, I've built on on only one of thier blanks, and I did like it a lot (it was discontinued). Calling them Loomano or Shimoomis - that is not disparaging in any way - JP Morgan & Chase merged, they are now JP Morgan CHase. There are many companies which have merged, and combined names. Just becaue I'm smart enough to be able to combine the 2 company names into a pretty cool sounding one name, don't hate teh creativity.

The guy asked a question - you can either deny and wear teh rose colored glasses and skirt around what many builders actually feel. Sorry for posting the truth about feelings.

I didn't know that Billy was the spokesman for the "majority of rod Builders" I guess I should show him more respect!