This is my second post today so I guess I'm on a roll.
Have any of you had a customer, potential customer or neighbor bend one of your rods improperly and break it?
What did you do? What did you say? What did they say or do?

You will have a hard time ever convincing a fisherman that he did anything wrong in terms of breaking a rod or blank. This might help illustrate why a rod broke:

[www.rodbuilding.org]

You can show it to him if you think it will help.

The thing is, many fishermen do not understand the make-up of a rod blank and believe that any good rod or blank should be nearly unbreakable. After all, good rods don't break. At least that's the mindset you'll find you're often up against.

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Tom Kirkman Wrote:
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> The thing is, many fishermen do not understand the
> make-up of a rod blank and believe that any good
> rod or blank should be nearly unbreakable. After
> all, good rods don't break. At least that's the
> mindset you'll find you're often up against.


Yep ... here's a recent post from the Florida Sportsman forum. It beautifully illustrates EXACTLY what Tom has pointed out.


" ... If you want to have happy customers you have to have an over the counter no questions asked replacement policy. I believe 99% of rods are broken in the scenarios you outlined in your limited warranty. So you are basically saying you are not going to replace a broken rod. I think Loomis was hurt very badly by being so stringent on replacing blanks. If you are in fact building a quality rod you will have very few returns. You need to give your dealers the flexibilty to replace a rod no questions asked ..."

That is why St Croix changed there policy. people kept them for several years and then broke them, and were getting a new rod every several years or so.

Bill - willierods.com

It's sad that such such a thing would appear on a forum - "If you are in fact building a quality rod you will have very few returns." The fact is, the level of quality has nothing to do with customer abuse or misuse, which account for 95%+ of all rod breakage.

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Everyone likes to talk about “free replacement” warranties on expensive factory rods. It is shocking that people can’t put 2+2 together and realize that nothing is free and they are prepaying for their replacement rod in the original purchase price…

The worst thing about the "no fault unlimited" warranties is that they foster the idea that a rod is supposed to be unbreakable and if one does break, it must have been defective.

The article in the issue of RodMaker that is in the mail now should open a lot of eyes and help builders more easily identify the various types of breaks they're most often confronted with. Every break leaves definite tell-tale clues as to exactly why and how it broke.

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I tried to sell the second rod I built.....didn't get very far even though I wasn't asking much more than what it cost me....I got the "I can get a St. Croix with a warrenty for that much" I started to explain what a warranty is worth and then saved my breathe.

When you run into that sort of thing just know that the person isn't among the clientele you wish to cultivate for a successful custom rod business. When the selling point is price or warranty, send the guy to a commercial maker.

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When you run into that sort of thing just know that the person isn't among the clientele you wish to cultivate for a successful custom rod business. When the selling point is price or warranty, send the guy to a commercial maker.

Although it's not directly related to the issue of rod breakage, here is a little business tip you can file away for future use - not every person that walks into your shop or inquires about a rod is somebody you want for a customer. Once in a while you're going to run into someone that over the long haul is going to cost you more in terms of money, trouble, headaches, etc., than their business is worth. You're better off turning them away or sending them to your competitor/s. There is a great deal of business savvy in that last option.


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Check out the North Fork Guarantee on the Catalog page of there site. Nice.

Bill - willierods.com

i have broken four rods, prior to building my own thank goodness, all four times i was hung up and trying to break free, i would choke up on the rod till i was holding the last 4 to6 inches and while holding it in one hand i was trying to pull on the line with the other, i would look down and there was the first 4 inches or so dangling on the line next to the wrong hand.
the rods were not that expensive but enough to break me of the habit.

The N. Fork Warranty is the same as the one I've offered forever. There have been a few defective blanks but most are due to customer error or misuse. Accidents happen, you just don't get it fixed for free when they do.

Another new wrinkle on rod breaking causes. Clackacraft drift boats have a neat feature that incorporates a tube in the side of the boat to store rods. These are really nice on the river when you are moving or running rapids and it prevents putting rods at risk. However, you should NOT store the rods in this location and drive for hours with them unless they are protected against rubbing on the side of the tube. The curve of the boat flexes the rod and puts a rub point just above the rear grip, right where it broke with a customer's first cast.

Store your rods well when you drive.

Terry

Thanks Bill.

We are not fans of the unconditional warranty here. We don't believe it's good for true performance tools. Companies that offer unconditional warranties will rarely push the performance edge because their designs have to withstand the meatheads that use a $600 performance rod to smack the dog. Instead, those companies will make their blank a little bit stouter than the fishing requires, because that will reduce returns and increase profit.

Jim, we'd love to see the rest of the folks adopt your attitude!

Jon