Can anybody give me some info on a Shakespeare Wonderod 12-0290B solid glass, 63" long, butt 0.795, tip 15. It looks like a VHF antenna. Thanks.

Well, some were indeed radio antennas! But many older ones were made to fit into a chuck type handle, so a 63 inch long blank would mate to an 8 to 10 inch (or so) handle for a 5-1/2 to 6 foot long rod.

I don't have any of their catalogs from that time period or I'd attempt to be more specific on the blank specs.

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Some if not all of the Wonderod blanks had a balsa wood core inside the blank. They were a solid rod, but not solid fiberglass. I can't help you with the model number you are looking for.

Mike Bradfrod
R.M.B. Fishing Rods
Nampa, Idaho

Mike

Where did you get your info from ???

Bill - willierods.com

Bill Shakespeare's Wonderods were hollow, not solid. They were inspired by a fly angler, a Dr. Howland, hence the "Howland Process" trade name on Wonderods. Do a search for "Long Rods Then and Now" to find an informative article about how rod blanks have evolved in the past 50 years. It's strange to think Hardy was building and selling fly rods built on Greenheart (wooden) blanks into the 1970's.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2014 06:47PM by Phil Ewanicki.

Bill: I have read it on one of the web sites, but beyond that, My Dad was a rod builder going back into the 40's. He also did casting shows on the west coast for the Silaflex rod company before they were bought out. He was very familiar with the "Wonderod", and we owned a number of them. We also broke a number of them. The broken ones were all solid with a wood core. My Dad said this was how they all were built. I can't find the web page where I read this, but know that my Dad did a lot of research and talking to the rod companies back then. He sold rods, and thought he should know as much as he could about the products he sold. Dad had me casting in the shows when I was 3 years old, and that was 60 years ago. I guess you can mark this up as some where between hear say, and an educated guess. I will try to find the article for you.

Mike Bradfrod
R.M.B. Fishing Rods
Nampa, Idaho

The very early Shakespeare models were built on a wood (balsa) mandrel that was not removed (Howald Process). Later models did not utilize the balsa core.

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Thanks Tom. The information I was going on was old. I think the last one we had broke in the late 70's and was from the early 50's. I know it had a wooden core.

Mike Bradfrod
R.M.B. Fishing Rods
Nampa, Idaho



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2014 07:39PM by Mike Bradford.

It seems some Wonderods had balsa cores and some did not. To find the article about the recent development of rod blanks you will have to search for:

Long Rods Then and Now 3 Terrace Standard

First, thanks for all the info. You guys are right, it does have some sort of core that I can't identify. I picked these rods up, along with about fourty others, from an old tackle shop on Long Island whose owner had died. These were mixed in. There were all sorts of components from the 40's and 50's and earlier.