As we all know quality rod thread has been scarce over the past year. We are all sorry to hear the Gudebrod's story and it appears that the ;'void' is being filled. I think Pac Bay has done a good job with threads over the past couple of years and I'm happy to see 1 oz threads available through them. It was pleasing to receive an email from my old friend Joe Meehan from American tackle that they will be bringing in about 80 colors of assorted Nylons, NCP's and mettalics.
I hope for all of our sakes that this is moving in the right direction. I had been doing some of my own research over the past year and have imported approx 100 assorted spools of thread that on the spool look very good. They have good color stauration, tie and cut well, and overall seemed like the "real deal". Color sample sticks and testing in sunlight showed problems that would certainly haunt anyone who used it. One flaw was some metallics, not all, faded from perhaps blue to a silver, as if the metallic was not colorfast. This breakdown was evident withing 5-7 days. I rarely use color preserver on Nylons and have noticed that Gudebrod's kept their colors after epoxy soaked in. The threads I have tested seemed to have darkened a bit more than I would have liked. The NCP's seemed to hold up well.
My conclusions were that about 70-80 % of the testing was positive, however the remaing failures wouldnt be exceptable in custom or even hobbiest work.. I would prefer to keep the company's name out of this, but as they offer private labeling, I cant help but wonder if it's out there.
Has anyone had any feed back from any of the newer stuff on the market? I hope all goes well for any new offerings and that my findings do not resurface in any of the popular brands.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/12/2010 11:01AM by Tom Kirkman.

It may sound a bit childish on my part, but what disturbs me the most is after getting use to matching thread colors on rebuilds with Gudebrod it will be like starting all over trial and error. A few months ago Mike Thompson introduced me to a different line of Metallics and it was love at first use. Maybe it's time to look into other NCP's also It seems people are wanting flashier rods now days The fun part will be to find a thread that will be around awhile

Gulf Shores AL

I told you Tom, the FishHawk metallics are the most friendliest to wrap with and all your headaches would be gone! I assure you that the product line is hear for the long haul, its a great product that will serve the rodbuilding community for years to come, from the hobbyist to OEMs.

Mike Thompson
Thompson's Custom Rods

It is impossible to make anything foolproof, because fools are so ingenious!

Just hoping there is a GOOD supply carried to High Point, Some colors and Metallics get Scarce if not grabbed Early

Just hoping there is a GOOD supply carried to High Point, Some colors and Metallics get Scarce if not grabbed Early

Mike Thompson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I told you Tom, the FishHawk metallics are the
> most friendliest to wrap with and all your
> headaches would be gone! I assure you that the
> product line is hear for the long haul, its a
> great product that will serve the rodbuilding
> community for years to come, from the hobbyist to
> OEMs.


Mike, on the Fishhawk home page they say the metallics are a silver alloy (not aluminum), but on a dealers site the description says they are wrapped in aluminum. Do you know which is correct?

Ron, The FishHawk metallic thread is made with a silver alloy, therefore, it will not tarnish or lose it`s luster. It is not made with aluminum film. This silver alloy is laminated to a carrier film and then placed over a nylon core. The nylon core is wrapped in rice paper to prevent fraying and delamination when the thread is stretched.

How do Madeira metallics compare to Fish Hawk Metallics?
Mike Blomme

Mike, I know that Madeira uses a poly core but I am not sure what type of metal foil they use.