I built my first rod more than 50 years ago and have built quite a few since, mostly for myself, friends, and family. For many years I built rods not only for the satisfaction of doing so but because I could build a functional, quality rod for a very good price. This advantage has steadily diminished to the point of extinction. The cost of blanks and components has risen so much that I advise people to purchase imported rods. I can't come close to matching their quality without paying nearly twice as much just for the blank and components, never mind the labor. The economics of rod building have undergone a sea change.

What would ya call that Inflation ???

And the Cereal boxes get smaller yet cost more All you can do is Jack Up the price ?? LOL

And more people are learning how to build there own rods

Bill - willierods.com

If you want to duplicate one of the low cost imports, then it's unlikely that you can match the price. Where they spend about $5 or so on parts, you'd have to spend $20 or $25.

I don't think custom rods were ever an intelligent option for anyone who buys on price. They guy buying the $49 rod, or for that matter, the $99 rod, is a waste of time for a custom rod builder to court. I think what's happened in recent years is that some who see themselves as "custom" builders are actually plying the small, limited produced avenue. And there's no possible way they can compete against the companies and the rods they need to compete against.

The fact that there are so many rods in the $300 and up range now has opened up a new market for custom builders. You can compete against those rods and make decent money. But again, the guys who do the real custom works are always going to be better off than the ones who ply that small production route. If you build what the factories build, then you can only charge what the factories charge, if that.

................

But in the same time frame technology has changed.
there was a time when fiberglass was cutting edge. then came graphite. and then every incarnation of graphite modulus.
carbide guides were the best then we found ceramic and now microwave,micro and nano guides.
all this R and D is going to effect the bottom line.
sure i can go to Walmart and buy an off the shelf made by the thousands by cheap labor rod. but since most of my customer and myself cherish the little time we may have on the water we want the latest and greatest. and must pay for it.
I think that that "sea of Change" has effected more than just Rod building. think about how many times you have upgraded your computer or cell phone.

Years ago I was making rods on a US manufacturer's blanks. One local outdoor outlet was selling finished rods made on the same blanks for less than I could purchase the components. I later found out that the blank manufacturer was trading rods for advertising in this outlets monthly magazine and that was why their prices were lower than anyone else's price. I subsequently got the lowest distributor price on the blanks by demonstrating rod building for the blank manufacturer and being a sort of technical advisor to them. There are a myriad of reasons why you can not compete with lower price rods!! You have to offer what the mass producers can not profitably make.

And every time my Cable bill goes up and I complain They tell me it because of Taxes
Now I get emails on different speeds of my internet speed I can get at So Much More Per Month And you know how much ya pay them already !!

It was nice to buy a TV and just plug it in and watch

Try and build a Good quality rod with a good quality blank and well Heck ya Can't
Only the Big Boys can do it

Bill - willierods.com

I am a hobby builder, build for myself, my family, and a very exclusive few friends (+ a charity raffle rod to support local education once a year), so I don't have to compete with the big makers/marketers. I build rods that so far no one else has emulated. They are better at fishing than the big rod makers, more beautiful, and in most cases lighter. They are, as everyone has said, not cheap. I have a lot of people who want me to build for them, and what they are really asking for is a cheaper very good quality rod. I tell them that I cannot/will not provide that, but that if they keep an eye open at BPS and Cabela's, they can get very good rods during the inevitable sales that functionally are excellent rods for about $100-$200.

Having said all this, I would not want to be making my living at building and selling custom rods. I respect all you guys who can do that. You are not only highly skilled, but a heck of a lot faster than I am. Good for you. I agree with Tom's comments that if you are trying to make a living at building custom rods, you need to go for the up-market. It makes no sense to try to do anything else. Set your prices, hone your skills, keep up on the new ideas to differentiate your product, and forget the low end. The one thing I notice in the new catalogs of the big guys is that many of the rods they are offering are really boring and don't include stuff that is obvious to all of us, like Microwave, micros, premium cork, or as I do on spin rods, elimination of cork for a whole new appearance and function. IMHO

To me its the same analogy as, I can go to the store and buy a fish cheaper than what it costs me to buy the equipment to catch one........
I build rods for the same reason I fish, I enjoy it.
From a purely economic point of view I guess you can rationalize its not worth it but I put value into the satisfaction I get out of building and doing things I like.
As the others have said I dont think it costs me more to build the same quality but I shop around for deals and buy items on sale as much as I can.

Paul

×10 Paul. My feelings exactly.

SAd but true - a lot of the factory FW rods on the market today are better than a lot of custom rods people are building. Factory rods have come a long way in the last 10 years.

The Shimano Crucial is a perfect example. Quality components and a surprisingly quality craftsmanship for $149.00. An American custom rod builder who wants to make any small amount of profit cannot come close to competing with this rod and it's very hard to convince anyone to pay two or three times that much for any rod, be it custom or high end domestic manufactured, once anglers see what they get in the price for some of these imports.

You have to move past targeting the "common" angler and target those that want technique specific rods, theme rods, or some other component that can't bought off a shelf (CTS Blanks ect...).

Let me play devil's advocate for a moment - if you were to take that Shimano Crucial and cut it apart and note how the seat was installed, how the grips were fitted, how the guide feet were prepped and spaced, would it still be thought of us a "quality" rod?

..............

Tom, right on!!!

Tom,
Yes, I actually think that it would still be considered a quality rod.

Be safe

At $149 retail, you're talking about a rod that cost about $25 to build. I'd be willing to buy one (if I can find one) and cut it apart and see just how much careful labor went into building it.

..............

Matt, I respectfully disagree. If your rod looks similar to that Shimano Crucial then construction is not something you can sell. Nor can preach quality or technique specific. A different blank won't even get you there. Components, maybe for a short while. But once the major manufacturers catch up to you then what? All of those things, in the eye of the consumer, exist already in that Shimano, St Croix, Loomis...........

Take a look at those that are really doing well selling rods. I will use Billy Vivona as an example. Sorry Billy LOL. If you sit one of Billy's rods next to another rod built for the same technique, even built on the same blank with possibly the same guides etc. Billy's rod will stand out hands down. Don't misunderstand me, the quality of craftsmanship that goes into his rods is second to none and that will show through, and I am confident that his rods will perform at the highest level, but the biggest piece of the puzzle is it looks unlike anything else out there. Billy's rods are works of art. The fact that they perform extremely well and are well constructed is a given. The customer already assumes those things when they pick up one of his rods. They understand no one would put the time involved into the minute details of a thread wrap or a grip inlay without making the rod perform. That in MHO is at least part of the mystery behind custom rods.

Just my .02

The second rod I ever built (rebuilt) was a Shimano Trevala that I wanted spiral wrapped. I was shocked to see the guides were well prepped prepped and the bottom 3 guides (size 16) had the underwraps epoxied prior to the guides be wrapped(not sure if this is an advantage but would definitely take longer I would think)

One thing a TRUE custom builder does is taylor the rod to the client. I had the experience of getting two blanks from Billy over the winter. My client and I went to get them at his shop just to have something to do that winter day. Our intention was to just get the blanks and @#$%& for a bit. We ended up tweaking the blanks by trimming them to handle what we planned to use on them as jigs. Spent about 45 mins per blank. Well the blanks were the same model so why not copy the trim of the first one? The minute differences in manufacture had the blank trim out differently , not by much but enough to make a difference. Also when the guides were laid out there is a slight difference and also a difference in blank weight. All things a custom builder considers to get the intended performance out of a blank. A factory lays out a story board of where the guides go and marks a thousand blanks. I doubt the blanks all would test exactly the same. A wally world fisherman is just that. A fisherman that buys from a tackle shop and gets some better quality rods is just that. A fisherman that wants a custom rod tailored to him is just that. These are people we need to target, put your rods in the right hands for exposure but you better be sure you can stand up to the test. I know of one local builder that was wise in his marketing and builds quality rods that are visually striking and is busy as a one armed paper hanger.

I have friend that has a nice fishing boat but uses Wally world tackle. Claims there is no differences. He can well afford to have custom but buys rod and reel combos (he says because they factory matched lol)at wally world. A friend even built him a rod as a gift but he barely uses it. He complains when others fish with him and we all do pretty good and gets skunked. I tell him its the rod,he says @#$%& the fish don't see the rod. I explain its the action of the jig that is important and the right rod needs to be used to relay the action to the jig. His answer? I can put the rod in the holder and catch a fish..... The argument went on but I wont bore ya with it. Lead a horse to water but getting it to drink is another story.

Freddwhy (Rapt-Ryte)

Agree with Vic, but with a caveat that supports Tom's argument. I had a friend of my son ask me to repair a broken tip on a high end rod ("factory?" I don't know their process), a spinning rod that goes for about $200 and has a good reputation with guides. The broken tip was because someone had hit the rod on something hard, not a blank defect. But my comment is that the construction of the rod was far inferior to what we custom builders do. Terrible quality cork, the winding check at the front of the foregrip was separating from the cork. I suspect based on those observations that the grip and reel seats were not epoxied as well as what we custom builders do. It takes, in my opinion, everything we do to differentiate our rods from factory rods, not just one thing. To show how important asthetics are, my college theme rod for an educational fund raiser went for $385 this year (home town of the college). The one thing that some themes/asthetics do well is advertise themselves (think Billie's rods, personal themes, like marine corps theme for a marine).

I agree with Tom as well. It is just hard to convince a customer that your rod is better constructed than their favorite factory rod unless it looks that way on the outside. Your MSU rod is another perfect example. The customer can look at that rod and tell it was well made. The internal construction of it was not obvious but it was also not necessary.

To use a different analogy. If I built high end sports cars, and you contacted me about buying one, then when you showed up all you saw were corvettes with body kits and pretty paint jobs, for the same or more money than what you could buy it at the local Chevy dealer for, you would be hard pressed to sell me that car. No matter if it had better interior, had more horsepower, better quality paint what have you. However, If I showed up and saw something that looked unlike anything I could buy on the market, then selling the performance of the car becomes easier. I can also charge a premium for said car.

Pretty draws them in, Performance brings them back.