Visited the local tackle shop and got to inspect one of the "popular" rods a company here on the South Texas coast produces. These are my findings: Guides were not in alignment, several gaps in the guide threads, not enough epoxy on the guides... most guides you could feel the threads, excess glue on the cork where the seat meets the cork and on the exposed trigger area. I inspected ~ 10 rods and all had most of these issues and some had all. These rods sell from $ 250 to $325. These rods are the staple rod in my area, by the way these are saltwater rods. Just an interesting observation on whats out there.

Cheers,

PB

Pat,
I suspect that you will also find that there are a lot of these rods that are being sold.

Is it possible that folks don't have as much concern about a fishing rod as what we as builders might think of that same rod.

Is it possible that many buyers simply want a tool to fling a bait off the end of the rod to catch a fish now and then. How many folks really look at a fishing rod, after the first 5 minutes of owner ship?

------------------
Having said that, I certainly would not put out any fishing rod that had even a single imperfection as far as I am concerned.
One has to wonder - If a rod with a bunch of defects can sell for $300, what can a rod sell for with 0 defects? $500?

Roger

Hi Pat,
And that is only what you can see. If that's the care they take how do you think the grips and seats are held on. Seen a few like that and they're made to a price by the builder. The seller puts his mark up on that. Roger is correct in stating that a lot of people don't look at rods the way builders do and quite often they don't care as long as nothing falls off or comes loose but that is a distinct possibility with those rods. I'm quite sure anything I sold for $300 would have none of that. I take more care with rods for others than I do with my own and I'm quite fussy about my own.

ESFNEM Col
Port Kembla, NSW
Australia

We see the same thing on so called " factory Custom" rods. It seems to keep cost down corners are cut and shody work is done. The thing is people will pay big bucks and have no problem with that. Half either ignore or don't know what they are holding in their hands. You really can't blame the makers as it seems people are willing to part with the $!!!

I've removed grips from so called quality factory rods with hardly any epoxy to secure them, removed reel seats where i could smell the epoxy and touch and feel it still being sticky, done loads of guide repairs on plugging rods that have been badly wrapped and poorly finished, some wern't even spined correctly - just thrown on any old how - and im talking about a very expensive range of well known plugging rods here.

Jersey, Channel Islands. (U.K.)

I've seen similar situations. It all comes out in the wash. Some people are okay with mediocrity. I have seen poor work on many of the high end brands. It happens.

On the flip side - I have had people contact me because "I saw a couple of your rods up in Canada".

_________________________________________
"Angling is extremely time consuming.
That's sort of the whole point." - Thomas McGuane

Unfortunately, I have witnessed the same in respect to custom builds. I have also inspected very nice factory builds. It is important to police our own work - making sure it leaves our hands in immaculate condition and possibly as "functional art".

IMO usually the worst rods are done by homemade rodbuilders who put their rods into a shop on cosignment, or build for a shop full time and get paid hourly. These guys usually don't get paid a lot for their rods, and the volume is high. It really doesn't matter if there are gaps in thread and ther eisn't enough epoxy - my personal rods some of them have barely a coat of nail poish on teh threads and they are just fine. Epoxy seeping out and ll over teh reel seat threads, don't matter either teh rod works just fine. It's sad when people don't take pride in their work, but people buy it so why would they think they ar edoing anything wrong?

Just because a rod is custom built, doesn't mean it's built better than a factory rod. Sad but true....people hwo build factory rods are very good at what they do, and they do it day in and day out. Most who build custom rods might build 20 rods in a year, but they think they're doing a better job than the factory builders, often times that's not the case as seen here.

I live on the middle Texas coast and have a good idea of who you are talking about. Yes, they are selling high end rods, but the quality of craftsmanship is terrible. It always makes me feel better about my work when I see what they are selling.

Reminds me of an experience I had last year. A friend invited me on a guided walleye trip. He provided all the gear, which included two I had built for him. I was using a Steez combo and the tip top fell off. He told me that he just had it repaired by a local a few days earlier. I offered to take it home and fix it right, but he insisted on taking it back to the same guy. What are the odds of a tip falling off the same rod twice?

_________________________________________
"Angling is extremely time consuming.
That's sort of the whole point." - Thomas McGuane



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/2012 03:28PM by Chuck Mills.

maybe the guy was his brother in law And he was crying he needed the work

I wonder why LOL

Bill - willierods.com

It's the same in most idustries especially ones that are not regulated. I spent decades as a pro photographer and after digital became to norm every man and his dog that bought a decent camera considered themselve a pro. I really can't tell you how often I quoted a wedding and I was 2 or 3k more than a lot of other quotes.

The customers never took into account the fact that most pros spent years learning the craft to a point I could 100% ensure them of quality. It used to really infuriate me.

So my point is if a bride is willing to risk something as important as wedding photo's to a clunker or some novice that works a weekend gig for an established company with a flash brochure, what chance do you really think there is of customers recognising the expertise required to set up a guide train properly, or correct blank selection? Sure you will have customers that take into consideration that the funky new guide concept will improve casting, action and the like but if we really have a good look at those who are willing to drop. $500- $1500.on a custom rod I be willing to say that most of them do it due to percieved value more than the knowledge of whats involved.

A perfect example is golf, take a look at your average 15 handicapper who went and spent 3k on the latest clubs personally made clubs and didn't blink doing it. Really in this day an age its more about the hype which comes down to marketing and percieved value more than the skill involved in creating a custom product. The moral is if you want to sell custom fishing rods you need to get your name out there to compete with big companies manufacturing these so called custom rods. I recommend spending time with a customer and tell them why you chose this reduction train even if they look blankly at you it will make you percieved expertise higher in thier eyes and if you produce the best you can everytime you will grow simply from word of mouth but it is never easy to break in. Avoid selling cheap to compete, always sell high and justify, wins every time.

Cheers
Mark Newcombe
Old Bar NSW
Australia

Mark, I have to agree with you. I know alot of anglers who use these products and from what I can tell it's more in the name than the product. Thanks for the reply, you were concise in your summation.

PB

Very well said Mark agree with you fully.Craftsmen are slowly dying out and being replaced by the cheapest and easiest way of doing things.You only have to look
at furniture and see some of the shoddy work being sold just mass produced.Surfboards are another item which now have to compete with mass produced boards
coming in from China.And the truly talented shapers and makers are having to close their doors as they cant pay their rent.

As for fishing rods i now look at them with a different view.I look at the craftsmenship or lack of it.This site and books i have read and people i have talked to have really
opened my eyes to what to look for.We have one brand which is very well known in the states and over here and i own one.The componetry is not high class the cork is
cheap and there are not enough guides on it but the blanks are very good.But because of the name they are jumping off the racks.I understand that they have to be built
to a price but they arent that cheap.I also have a few custom made rods by a very reputable builder in australia and they are very nicely done and most of the parts are
of good quality except the cork.But at $700 plus you would expect that for an ultra light bream rod.But i dont think there is to much of his DNA on the rods as he has some
good workers he can trust he just mainly designs and oversees the work nowadays.

So i guess the reason i started to build my own was to replace all the rods i owned with rods that i had built myself and had better blanks and guides and grips than were
on rods available in the shops.I own a few rods so i have a bit of work ahead of me.Also i feel that the rods are going to be better set up as they will be built to the reels i use
and wont be scrimped on with using less guides to save money.I am what Billy calls a homemade rod builder and wouldnt call my self anything else.But i am fairly handy
with my hands and feel i am able to use skills i have picked up over my life to transcend into building rods and do a reasonable job.If i had to charge an hourly rate for a rod
you would have to rob a bank to pay for it because i take my time and will not rush as then mistakes can occur.The learning curve is not as steep when you have the amount
of information and help that you get on this site it makes it so much easier.

I just wonder how much clever marketing has to play a lot i am sure.If you could build 2 identical rods one on a cheap blank and with a big name company sticker on it and
another with a quality blank and Joe Blows backyard rod building company sticker both built by the same person how many of the average fisherman could tell the difference.
Especially if the cheaper version was marketed as the latest lightest greatest thing since sliced bread.

Anyways i hope i havent bored yous to much and havent gone away from what the topic is.But if other people like what i am doing and compliment my work i must be doing
some thing right hopefully.Maybe one day someone may ask me to build them a rod but if they dont i wont lose to much sleep over it.

cheers

Ray Balmforth
Figtree
NSW
Australia

Now go out and try to find a good - Quality bamboo blank made

Bill - willierods.com