I am about to embark on my 3rd rod. It's a Batson RX8+ 8wt blank with titanium "ring lock" guides. The blank is a matte black, not matte gray like the RX7 blanks I have used previously. I got the seat and grip mounted up last night.

I have many thread choices, since I practically bought out the Gudebrod stock at my local Fisherman's Warehouse that had a small stock of rod building supplies. I was considering the blue HT metallic as the primary wrap with thin gold accents. Is that too much flash for a fly rod? I also have regular nylon in medium and dark blue, medium and dark green, a medium brown, a bright red, plus a big spool of garnet and a big spool of black 001. Incidentally, I don't plan to use CP. I understand that with the black blank and no CP the thread wrap will darken several shades when the finish is applied-I like that transparent look.

Anyway, it's hard to pick without a ton of experience. I used the blue metallic as trim on another rod and liked the color when finished. I did review the picture section, but most rods there are quite fancy with multiple colors and or weaving.

Appreciate any suggestions. Plus, I'm not in any hurry so if there is another color that I should consider, I'll order it from a forum sponsor.

Drew

With out CP I'd go bright red with gold accents. That would be my first choice
second would be med blue with the metallic blue accents or the gold accents.
Straight up metallic is too much bling for a fly rod.

Well, I am not as much of a conservative. If you like the color combo use it. I have used Pewter metallic with Blue metallic trim, Blue metallic with Black and Silver Metallic trim bands, Red Metallic (looks a tad copperish) with Silver Metallic trim bands. ...

In my opinion anything goes well on matte black blanks.

Lane

Drew,
My wife is an artist and helps me with color choices.

She has indicated that when you work with a royal or similar blue that the best metallic color choice would be a silver metallic, rather than a gold.

On the other hand, if you work with a green, brown, or red, then the gold would be a better metallic.

If you were going to go with a metallic blue. I would use a plain nylon royal blue (or possibly a bit lighter blue) with a matching metallic blue trim, and then follow it up with a metallic silver band. Quite a few rods around using a color scheme like this that are very attractive.

If you were to go the red route, I would go with a black nylon thread for the main wrap, and then go with a red metallic, and a gold metallic trim.

If you don't have one already, go to an art store and pick up a color chart. A quick glance at the color chart will give you a good idea of complementary, matching, contrasting - as well as (ugly color) matches.

Having said all of that - custom rods are exactly that. Custom. That means that you can wrap any color on top of any other color for main or trim, either in a match, contrast, or simply LOUD color.
It is your choice.

If you have a lady around the house, she is often a very very good judge of what colors go well together. It seems that with all of their typical shopping and matching clothing coordinates, that they have an excellent eye for color .



Take care
Roger

Thanks for the replies. Getting a color chart is an excellent suggestion.

Leaning toward the medium blue, and I also have a cobalt blue (ProWrap) I could try.

Gary sort of confirmed what I was thinking about too much bling. I like subtle and elegant.


Still thinking......

Drew

Drew,
After working with many many different customers over the years and trying lots of various color combinations, the vast majority of the folks like a guide wrap that is the same color as the blank.
Then a bit of contrasting trim on the ends of the wraps to high light the guides.

But, of course, there is always the client that is the exception to the majority.

Take care
Roger

Drew;
There may be more to consider here then just color.
I use a lot of metallics, and like the looks they provide.

But on certain technique specific rods I stay away from them, keep them to a minimum using only near the handle, or don’t use them at all.

These are the rods that I use for up close fishing or for fishing in shallow water.
Part of the fish’s life is spent avoiding predation, much of which comes from over head.

On bright sunny days all that "bling" can reflect into the water causing the fish to be a bit wary of the flash going on over theirs heads. Lessening you catch results.
If you are intending this rod for going after fish like trout that tend to be spooky anyway, I would suggest keeping the “bling” to a minimum.

Another disadvantage to a lot of “bling” is while sight fishing; it can cause reflections either in the water or directly into the eyes that may interfere with what you are trying to see.

Narrow trim bands are not nearly as reflective as wider thread wraps.
Here are a few of photo’s that may help with your color choice

[www.rodbuilding.org]

[www.rodbuilding.org]

[www.rodbuilding.org]

Try the reds and golds on a scrap piece with out CP. Different look. Or color of your choice.

Bill - willierods.com

I have used the Gudebrod HT Metallics on numerious RX 8+ Blanks and really line the red with silver trim or the blue with silver trim. These have all been bass rods where spooking the fish is not an issue though.

I saw in the current issue of Rodmaker Magazine, (Vol. 13 Issue 5), an article in the Rod Building News section, (Page 9), that says some former owners/ employees of Gudebrod have acquiried the Thread operation "and that rod winding thread may soon be spooling off the Gudebrod equipment once again". Let just hope this is true as I have been buying as much as possible of the dwindling supply!

Don Campbell
don@sensorfishingrods.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/28/2010 12:32PM by Donald R Campbell.

A wrap can be any color you want.........as long as it's purple.

Well, I have purple-more like a lavender-and I did a test wrap on the butt section. Not quite what I'm looking for, but not as bad as you might think. It actually looks pretty good and I'm a primary color guy.

The pictures from Steve were excellent. Thanks for the links. The black on black is nice. I hope to start the guides this weekend, and if I can figure it out, I'll post some pics. Thanks all.

Going to reply to my own thread with an update.

I ended up using the medium blue with a 8 turn silver inlay at the ferrules and a 4 turn silver band at the top of the butt wrap. The medium blue becomes a very nice royal/cobalt once the finish is applied. Anyway, it ended up looking better than I had hoped.

Since I'm still learning-I would make the inlay more like 4-5 turns in the future, but I wanted to try out the technique, and guess what? - it works! The library instructions were very helpful.

Drew