Hi Folks....I am new to the forum and to rod building in general. I have built 4 or 5 rods for friends and am really enjoying it. I do mostly saltwater fishing....wire line trolling.....drifting for fluke.....chunking for stripers...etc. I have been using the American tackle ATX blanks for a few reasons. They are reasonably priced and I like the glossy black , I have developed a nice metallic blue underwrap with silver trim bands and black overwraps. I think they look pretty sharp. But...... What is the general opinion of these blanks? Are they inexpensive because they are junk?

Thanks in advance for your responses.

Joe

You will find alot of reasonable priced blanks out there that are very good quality. Just because the blank does not cost much, does not mean it is junk. If the blanks have performed well for you that you built on before, that should be enough to show you how good the blank is.

Hi Joe,

I have been waiting for the opinions,,,,,,,,seems like a very reasonable question to me,,,,, okay, now I have to throw my comments in.

True, they are economically priced however if we thought they were junk we wouldn’t offer them and certainly wouldn’t warranty them. Over the years I have used Trulines, Sabres, Seekers, Cal Stars, etc. and have quite the collection of E-glass, S-glass, & composites to fish with, but these days I use a lot of the ATX blanks. Admittedly the volume is probably due to easy access but I have found them to be excellent performers and that they hold up every bit as good as all the others with several becoming my absolute favorites. We offer popular actions along with more niche oriented models. I would have to say that the majority of these blanks are sold to private label builders and guys selling very high-priced finished semi-custom rods. Their quality along with the economical price makes them ideal for those who need to make money producing a “quality” rod for resale. For many, more expensive brands don’t offer anything other then a reduced margin so the pay less for a blank that works well for a very expensive finished rod (they make more money). What I mean to say is that, I and others who are particular about our blanks, are very satisfied with the ATX line. If they didn’t have confidence in them, they would go to a more expensive “brand”. If I didn’t like them, I would change them to make them better which does happen. Hope you like them and still use them, thank you for your consideration.

Best Regards,

Darrin Heim
American Tackle Company

I have built quite a number of "bluewater" rods on AT ATX blanks and have found them to be very high in quality. No complaints from customers, in fact just the opposite...they are highly impressed with the quality and performance. Thank you AT.

Capt. Rick Bennett
Rod-Man Inc
Rod-Man Custom Rods
910-520-7661

Im really not aware of any blank on the market thats junk. If there were any maybe they didnt last long enough for me to see them.

Darrin, thanks for adding your views. I just built my first rod on an ATX blank and I'm favorably impressed with them. The finish is better than most of the better known blanks and the over-all quality was excellent. I'm in Baja, Mexico and here on the left coast everyone knows CalStar and Seeker, so most of the rods I build are on those blanks, but I like the better price point of the Amtac and I think the quality is as good or better than the others. I'll still need to see how well they hold up to use, but I'm expecting they will do just fine. I will be using them more.

Darrin Heim Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Hi Joe,
>
> I have been waiting for the opinions,,,,,,,,seems
> like a very reasonable question to me,,,,, okay,
> now I have to throw my comments in.
>
> True, they are economically priced however if we
> thought they were junk we wouldn’t offer them
> and certainly wouldn’t warranty them. Over the
> years I have used Trulines, Sabres, Seekers, Cal
> Stars, etc. and have quite the collection of
> E-glass, S-glass, & composites to fish with, but
> these days I use a lot of the ATX blanks.
> Admittedly the volume is probably due to easy
> access but I have found them to be excellent
> performers and that they hold up every bit as good
> as all the others with several becoming my
> absolute favorites. We offer popular actions along
> with more niche oriented models. I would have to
> say that the majority of these blanks are sold to
> private label builders and guys selling very
> high-priced finished semi-custom rods. Their
> quality along with the economical price makes them
> ideal for those who need to make money producing a
> “quality” rod for resale. For many, more
> expensive brands don’t offer anything other then
> a reduced margin so the pay less for a blank that
> works well for a very expensive finished rod (they
> make more money). What I mean to say is that, I
> and others who are particular about our blanks,
> are very satisfied with the ATX line. If they
> didn’t have confidence in them, they would go to
> a more expensive “brand”. If I didn’t like
> them, I would change them to make them better
> which does happen. Hope you like them and still
> use them, thank you for your consideration.
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Darrin Heim
> American Tackle Company

Thanks Darrin and all who responded. As I re-read my post i realize that I could have asked the question better. I would certainly remove the "junk" reference......So far....I love the blanks and have developed my own kind of signature scheme around them. I even built a trolling rod for myself. I just haven't been able to fish it yet. I was really hoping to hear that they fish as well as they look....especially for the price. I was very pleasantly surprised to find these blanks so reasonably priced

Thanks,
Joe

I build many fluke rods on the 7' graphite blanks, the 20-30 Mod fast is the one I use for fluke drifting. The ATX 15-30# 10' Surf Rod is a sweet rod as well. Their 30-50# wireline trolling blank will be put to the test in a spiral wrap once the Stripers make it up here in force. I made up a planer rod out of their 5'6" 60-130# trimmed down to 4' and it worked great off of Morehead this year, did another planer with the 80# IGFA class blank trimmed down. I have another 5'6" 60-130# to build, too. The 80-130# composite makes an incredibly powerful rod, too. Nice blanks at a great price!

Hi guys,

Thank you Mike, Mike, Rick, Bill & Timothy for the comments. Joe, I didn’t think you were saying they were junk so I wasn’t taking offense. It’s a good question and wanted to hear what people think but I jumped in since I appreciate addressing the subject and talking about our stuff. Hope all you guys have as good luck as I have had with these blanks. I realize that all blanks can have issues with quality and durability no matter what label is on them, all I can say is that they have been very successful for us so we confidently offer them. We tend to be very critical of our own stuff trying to continuously improve where ever we can and I would just hope that comes across.

Best Regards,

Darrin Heim
American Tackle Company