Trying to find out a little about a fly rod. the tag has been all but scratched off, can make out (gob) first three letters.
If you know who made these rod I would love to know more about it or where I can find some information.

Can you get a photo of it?

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yes photos are needed. let's see the label, reel seat and ferrules.

I just uploaded two photos to my photo file.
Any help welcomed, also need to know what the old builders used as thread sealer.

[www.rodbuilding.org] ; the text says.. [www.rodbuilding.org]

what you have there is an example of a post war Japanese rod. brought home by returning G.I.'s by the thousands. they usually came in a really nice box witha bunch of extra goodies like leaders and flies. don't expect to retire on it since even one in mint condition with all the bells and whistles would only bring $100 on a really good day.
as far as what the old guys used as a C.P. It was everything from lacquer to shellac. the majority of larger makers used nitrocellulose lacquer.

Heck

You can buy a new bamboo fly rod for I have seen them $ 300.00 - 400.00

Bill - willierods.com

It's not mine some guy wants new guides and wraps on it , but if it was an antique I was going to try an talk him out of it.
He told me it was worth a lot of money and someone was going to buy it from him as an antique, but the reel seat is cheap
and I know very little about bamboo rods. Thank you for the information.
Chris

whatever the customer wants. re-wrapping it in matching thread is going to cost more than the rod is probably worth but it can be done. clean it up, rewrap and give it a new overcoat of finish if needed. make it pretty and send it back. those rods always bring bad Mojo into the shop. like putting lipstick on a pig. but then again some people are into that.

A great many people believe that any rod made from bamboo is worth a fortune. They're not, of course, and this one is worth about $50 to $150 depending on overall condition. And that $150 would be in absolutely top notch, like new condition with all the little knick knacks those rods came with originally. Most similar rods are worth closer to $50 to $75, unless somebody catches a rube (which they do, often).

It's a novelty more so than a real keepsake and that isn't likely to change in even a couple more decades. I'd inform the customer of the real world value and then rewrap it at your standard charge, if he still wants to do that.

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I'm calling the man Monday to see if he still wants the work done, because the price is more than the rod is worth.
Again Thank You for all the information, I Love This Site Tom so many with so much knowledge Thanks.
Chris

My fishing buddy, now known as the Connecticut Picker, scored two of these sets for me for $20.00 a piece. Future retirement projects, wall hangers or display items for some fisherman's man cave.

I sold a near mint set about a year ago for $75. sold it to a guy who had a classic "Woody Wagon". him and his wife have a whole vintage picnic/camping set up when they go to car shows and this was what he was looking for to complete the look.

Great post very informative. I too have always thought any Bamboo Fly rod is worth $$$
@ gary~~~LOL Lipstick on a pig, made me laugh on a sad morning...

So did I
At least if they were Tonkin Cane But how can ya tell what cane was used to make the blank

Bill - willierods.com

even many cheap rods used Tonkin cane. what makes one better than the other is the quality of workmanship and the components.case in point. Heddon made hundreds of thousands of rods. The lower the model number the less expensive the rod. so if you were to compare a model 10 to a model 20 you would find that both were made with Tonkin cane maybe out of the same shipment. the cnae for both would be inspected for flaws and the better cane would go in the pile for the #20. both would be cut and milled on similar machines. pieces for the 20 would go to the handmade department where one person was responsible of making the rod. the 10 would go to the production line and would be put together by several workers. a 9' 20 would have 10 guides. the 9' 10 would maybe have 6 guides. since it cost more for the guides. so which one is better?
Many companies that build cane rods during thier peak had rods that cost everywhere from $100 right down to $1.50.
the problem with the box rods is that the components and cane are both beyond cheap and the finish is usually a lacquer that is brittle and will shatter if you cast the rod too much.
Plus a lot of what makes a good rod great is the taper of the cane. a few thousands of an inch here and there can make a huge difference.

I can not understand why some buy a bamBoo rod for maybe 1500 plus
If that is the case A 300.00 rod should be the same thing if made well

Bill - willierods.com

because the $300 is partially machine cut and made where as if you are spending upwards of $1500 every bit of that rod is made by hand from splitting the cane to hand planeing and requires over 40 hours of work. plus some of it is really a supply and demand issue. if say Heddon made 10000 9' 5 wt low end rods but only 100 7' wt high end rods. which is going to sell for more on the secondary market?