Hey guys, i thought i would get a list of what you favor in color schemes. I personally dont have much experiance, but i like blue on silver, black with some blue, purple with teal, etc. Lets hear what you like for double and triple wraps.


Till Later,
Joel

Any metallic with Nylon over it, without Color Preserver. Red over Gold, Maroon over Gold, Purple over Pink, you see where I 'm going with this. I also like Teal w/ CP and mtallic or holographic Red inlayed.

Just do a sample wrap on scrap blank or under the handle assembly first to see how the bleed through will look.

Black with gold trim. Black with silver trim. Black with white trim. Black with almost anything is a home run. It never looks bad, doesn't show imperfections and is easy to work with. By changing the trim color you can make it work with almost any color blank or reel.

If you have the nerve - white wraps with gold metallic trim.

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Agree with William! Black with anything. I have had more compliments on a simple black/metalic gold trim wrap than a highly detailed multicolored wrap. No CP needed, no bleed through. All thread sizes finish out looking the same meaning that you can change thread sizes for large and small guides and large and small diameters of the blank.

You can also almost get away with this using hunter green, dark brown, dark blue.

Tom,
I was thinking white with something. I am getting ready to build on a couple of IMX flyrods (backordered) that are matte grey. What happens to the white with no CP applied? Also, with CP does it stay a true white or still bleed through?

Joel,
I'm sure as many opinions on color shemes out there as there are rodbuilders. I should get Solly here to comment, as she is the 'color coodinator' expert for me.

I'll take a stab anyway at this. As often, I agree with Mike Bolt with the last few choices in green, dark blue, dark brown. I would add gunsmoke, charcoal, and shades of gray , blue dunn, and other 'earth colors' to this list.

The trim wraps always add something extra no matter what color chosen. Add to this the idea about what is the color of the blank? That often will change your thinking about color choice. A green blank goes good with matching blank color thread with subtle trim.

Don't discount also some combinations you would never think work out. Often with adding color preserver the colors get muted to just the shade to match with 'clashing' collors. Just have to look at the combinations on practice blanks.

Personally, I also like Dark Blue or Dark Green with metallic copper.
Black also looks good with metallic red or metallic aquamarine.

Rich
Solyrich Custom Rods

I agree with Rich. On rainshadow and SCIV green blanks, try green thread without CP, and a silver or gold inlay. The green will "melt" into the blank color and leave the inlaly as the prominent aspect. Looks very nice. I tend to go toward the subtle with a very delicate accent. On GLoomis black, I almost always use black with gold or silver inlay. Have used Garnet (maroon) without CP and silver inlay that turns out beautiful. Matching blank with primary wrap is probably my favorite, then adding a touch of contrast. Very classy.
Elrod

I always use NCP when working with white. That is the only way you will get a true bright white. Be forewarned though, that you have to handle it very carefully as it will show dust and dirt specks that other thread colors do not. And you must use either Permagloss or LS Supreme if you want it to remain water white - most other epoxies I have used will turn at least amber if not downright brown and it really shows on white - particularly if you are also working on a white blank. I have some rods that came just beautiful but the finish over the white thread turned brown in due course and ruined the effect.

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Yes, I forgot garnet, burgundy, and the dark reddish tones. Very classy, but often overused with some lesser quality factory rods. Still, I guess traditional and to a lot of customers' liking, especially with govt. gold trim.

One mention about the gold metallics. I know of using probably at least half a dozen different; glitzy gold, government gold, flashy gold, pale gold, olde gold, antique gold, even silk metallic gold. Remember to use these in matching up with particular guides or parts of the reel. There can be some wierd clashes even with picking the 'wrong' gold. I have been 'hand slapped' many times by the boss 'color coordinator' for the 'wrong' metallic choices.
Be forewarned.

Rich
Solyrich Custom Rods.

My "rookie" .02 ;) My favorite is garnet (no cp), with white ncp trim bands. This combo looks great with a nickle silver seat and winding check. (Soon to try out the pearl metallic for trim.)
Mike

You listed almost all the colors on teh color wheel!! We should've asked which colors you don't use!!

Black over metallic base wrap does look nice and hides a lot, but you shouldn't have anything to hide in the first place. My thinking is this - I want my rod to be different and stand out - a lot of rods, custom and factory use the Black and metallic combo, which bores me.

Billy

Hmmmm, Billy, ever wonder why the factory and customs are done in black and a metalic? A lot of folks think they look good! There are a lot of things that you can do only using black (or any dark color) and gold. Inlays really stand out, detailed butt wraps, etc.

I did a rod that stood out before! A customer came in and wanted a live bait rod for his girlfriend, teal and pink with gold trim on a white blank with red grips. After my eyes re-adjusted, I immediately went back and built a black and gold to get in touch with my senses.

So much for standing out! Whatever floats your boat I reckon.

You're right. We use a lot of thread colors. You should see the wacky 'random' combinations on the ice rods (purposely done to see them better in the snow).

Seriously though, black is the most used and popular. I find this through our sales of spools and by far, black is #1 still. And, they do stand out for neat custom rods. Aside from guide wraps, a lot of black thread is used to close in the butt wraps for some elegent effect and yet show the complicated nature that brag's of custom rods. Consider a butt wrap that shows a simple few stylized fish in metallic 'floating' and completely closed in around black thread. The effect does not immediately show anything but the simple arrowead shaped fish head with a tail, however one can understand on close inspection that the custom builder went to a lot of artistry to get there by using the black thread. This is far from boring.

I digressed from the wrapping idea, but yes we do, and have used a lot of color combinations even on wraps. Boring would be a simple black wrap to repair a guide and no trim whatsoever, which in reality is what one does a lot of in a rod repair shop. The Custom Builder should use many options at their disposal, in my opinion. Either will float the boat and consider also customer satisfaction to be the name of the game, as well.

Now, if my wife comes in here to post, we'll all get 'the lesson' of the day. I'll keep quiet.

Rich
Solryich Custom Rods

Im pondering a new project , I was thinking of a t&t deep blue and ran some of the popular color patterns by the mrs.

I told her I was thinking of purple wraps with silver trim, Her comment was That men are just color blind. I hear what your saying Rich.

Ive only built green rods in the past and my favorite color wrap for emerald green is garnet with some sort of gold trim.

my favorite rod was emerald green with garnet wraps and jasper for trim wraps.

"Happy wrapping" John

My personal rods are done in Aqua metalic under with Cobolt Blue nylon over. some i trimmed in peal HT Metalic some no trim band but a single thread center band of cobalt or black on a black blank.
I do have one 8ft graphite that is hot pink under, trim is chartruse and the over wrap is NCP dusty purple.....looks cool! Nobody seems to want to borrow that rod!