Greetings gang. I'm new here.

I built a heavy duty boat rod, in the early 80's, using a Fenwick blank. I thought that it turned out well, until I used it and the tip wanted to go sideways. I then learned about the spine.

I'm now retired and want to build more rods, but build them correctly. I have several blanks, including a couple of Ugly Stiks. The markings are: Shakespeare 12-0586 and 12-0437. There is no mention of them on the Internet. I thought that they would be a good project to further my education in rod building. If I screw up, it would be no big loss. Not like screwing up a St. Croix or Lamiglas blank.

Anyone familiar with the Ugly Stik numbers? Where should I attempt to point these projects.

Thanks so much. I'm tickled to find you guys. I'll be looking through your website for more info.

Thanks.

Steve,
Pretty easy to figure out a blank.

An easy way to do it is to take your blanks with you to a commercial sporting goods store with a good assortment of rods.

Then, compare finished rods to your blanks until you find a match. Then, check the numbers on the commercial rod to understand what you have.

Good luck.

Steve,

Try contacting customer service at Pure Fishing in Columbia, SC. They are the parent company for Shakespeare, Ugly Stik, Mitchell, Penn, Abu Garcia, and many other brands. I have purchasing permissions with them; if I get a minute I'll log in and see if I can find out anything for you.

Dave Sytsma

Steve,

Are there any other identifying numbers or letters on the blanks? Model numbers? Recommended line weights? How long are the blanks? I can see every Ugly Stik they make, but I need more information if you can provide it.

Dave Sytsma

Thanks, Roger and Dave.

I was in one of the big box sportsman stores yesterday and they didn't have anything close to the 12-0586. They had several that would compare to the 12-0437 but by the time I added the guides and wrap, I'm sure that would change.

The markings on the rod blanks include "Ugly Stik tm rod" on the butt. The only other markings are "Shakespeare 12-0586 on one and Shakespeare 12-0437 on the other. Both model numbers are about 6 inches from the butt. The 12-0586 appears to be about 77 1/4 inches long, .650 in. at the butt, .265in. at the tip and is all black. The 12-0437 is 84 inches long, .590 at the butt, .125 at the tip and is clear about 6 inches from the tip.

I hope that this helps.

I think by your comment you are expecting spine to prevent a blank from turning over under load. It will not. If you want to prevent that wrap the rod with some version of a spiral wrap to get the guides underneath the blank. If you think it important enough, you can convert your existing rod to spiral by rewrapping the third guide from the butt and all the rest to the tip to 180 degrees, leave the first guide alone, and add the lowest guide you can get at 1/2 the way between the first and third guides at 90 degrees.

Hello Michael,

That would be true if the rod was built to be a spinning rod with the guides underneath. However, I built it to use a Penn 113h Special Senator reel with the guides on the up side. It was built with a white Fenwick blank and I think that I did a good job of fitting the grips, guides and windings, I did not realize the effect that the spine would have until I went out on a party boat and found that the rod would want to lay over under load.

I have some old Clemens catalogs and they did sell some Shakespeare blanks. I will try to find them over the weekend and see what info they can offer you. I am not sure if Bullard did,yet may have. Sadly, I have none of those any longer.

What Michael is referring to is a method of wrapping guides on a baitcasting rod where the running guides are placed on the bottom of the blank...just like a spinning rod. This is often referred to as a spiral wrap but there are other names for it also such as Robert's wrap or acid wrap.

This is the only real way you'll prevent rod tip twist on a baitcaster...even if it is built with guides on the spine. The force of the pull from the fish is what is causing the twist while under load. Any spine is easily overpowered by this force. That is not an issue with a spinning rod since the guides are already on the bottom. Therefore the only way to achieve this with a baitcaster is to spiral the guides to the bottom. Most guys on this forum will tell you this is how they build their own baitcasters...me included. Don't even own one with the guides on top anymore.

If you haven't already, do a search on this forum for spiral and you'll have a ton of info on the subject.

Thanks,
Chad Huderle

Huderle Custom Rods
Prior Lake, MN

Yes, Chad is correct in what I was proposing, for the exact reasons he mentions. Thanks, Chad, for more complete explanation.

Am I correct in thinking that a spiral wrap has the first guide, from the reel, on the upside of the rod, spiraling down to the tip which would be on the down side of the rod?

I didn't read your post as carefully as I should have, Michael. I apologize.

After thinking the concept in greater depth, I'm wondering if I should wind a left hand or right hand spiral.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/26/2017 09:54PM by Steve Delap.

Steve,
I spiral my rod toward the reel handle. I do the "simple spiral" mostly, it's discription is in a bunch of posts to be found under themsearch function. Tom Kirkman's discription of the criteria are about as good as they get, and it is "simple".

Like Spencer says, read up on the simple spiral method. There are various ways to achieve the same end here, but the simple spiral is called simple for a reason.

And spiraling toward the reel handle helps protect the guides sticking out the side of the blank.

GO TO THE SEARCH UP IN THE RED AREA TYPE IN SPIRAL WRAP -- YOU WILL LEARN A LOT ABOUT HOW TO MAKE IT - IT IS A CASTING ROD - REEL ON TOP - BUT THE FIRST 2 OR 3 GUIDES LET THE LINE GO UNDER THE BLANK TO GUIDES AT THE 180 AS A SPINNING ROD -- THEY WORK - VERY -- WELL

Bill - willierods.com