How do you go about finding out what blanks a production rod manufacturer uses? Is that open and available information? Is it on their websites and I am just missing it?

For instance, Kistler does not hide the fact that they use NFC in their Z-bone offerings............do other companies do the same? Do production rod companies use MHX, RainShadow, CastAway, etc..........like we do?

Tony Wilson
Cincinnati Ohio

You might be surprised if you got past many of the nondisclosure agreements and find out who is doing what for who and who uses what.

Most companies will not disclose their blank sources. Makes sense from a competitive standpoint. Many here adamently believed Kistler would never disclose that. And then it happened. There's some solid explanation in these threads regarding why you would or wouldn't disclose that information. Good marketing lesson.

[rodbuilding.org]
[rodbuilding.org]

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/31/2011 03:13PM by Alex Dziengielewski.

Kistler may be using blanks made by NFC, but that does not mean they are using the NFC blanks that are available to custom rod builders. Not the same thing.

This holds true for the company that makes Mud Hole's MHX blanks, or Castaway, or Berkley, or whatever. A blank manufacturer may build product for many production rod companies. But this doesn't mean it's the standard off-the-shelf product they offer the custom builder.

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Tom - great point.

As a result of promoting the maker - those are the questions popping up pretty often. Different dynamic.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/31/2011 03:53PM by Alex Dziengielewski.

Most likely Kistler is disclosing the brand of blank they are using not as general information.

But so that they can piggy back off the success of Gary Loomis's name.
Hoping his reputation will influence fishermen to by Kistler's rods.

Do you think this was true with G Loomis when they offered both blanks & finished rods?

Yes. They built blanks for many companies, but they were not the same blanks that were offered under the G.Loomis name to the custom builders.

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Not meant to hi-jack the thread, but who then would be getting the better quality blank, production rod companies, or custom builders? Seems to me the production rod companies would have more leverage.

Size of the rod company doesn't really play a role.

They're a customer that can buy enough product to specifiy exactly what they want. If they don't want to pay top dollar for a top dollar item, they won't get a top dollar item. Sure they can buy it for less than you or I can, but if they can't pony up for top shelf, they're not getting top shelf. The production rod company has their target in mind, both cost and quality. The OEM manufacturer does what they can to hit those targets.



In my real life, I am a project manager for a large manufacturing company. Mostly, we are an OEM supplier. You'd be surprised at what many companies will do to weedle down their cost. Or how many other things they'll sacrifice on just to get that one item in their product that is a current industry buzzword.



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Better to have and not need than to need and not have.

Right, most commercial rods are built to sell at certain price points. Few rod manufacturers could afford to use, say, top of the line NFC or St. Croix models. What they spec are usually lower cost blanks.

However, performance and quality are not the same thing. Even a low cost blank can exhibit good quality.

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