Other than the length and weight of a blank what PHYSICAL differences distinguish one rod blank from another - assuming physical differences can be measured?

Are you only talking about the physical properties? Not the characteristics?


I would break it down like this:

Physical properties: Weight, length, tip size, butt size, spine placement

Physical characteristics: Power and Action


Someone with more experienced will probably add more/correct me though lol.


-Matt

Hello All.

The most important thing that no one is told or talked too about is the number and type of flags (or patterns), and the taper of the mandrel used to build a rod blank.


Tight Wraps & Tighter Lines.

Bob,

New Bern, NC.

blank diameter
balance pint of blank before anything added
type and quality of materials
painted verses unpainted

high or low resonant frequency



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/07/2020 01:56PM by Steve Gardner.

Ferrule style / type

Color- From my recollection each manufacturer has their signature colors.Shakespeare wonder rods were white. Ugly sticks were clear tip black bottom. and CRB comes in a rainbow of colors. There were a lot of browns out there. I like the charcoal and greens.

I was thinking about deflection caused by a specific amount of weight suspended from the tip, and maybe the resonant frequency of the bare blank. I believe these both reveal useful information about how the rod works, if not how it looks.

The deflection thing when used with a specific weight won't tell you anything because of the differing actions involve. You could easily have a more powerful blank deflect further then a less powerful blank by virtue of the different tapers of the rods involved. Not always, but often enough to be a problem. Then you also have the problem of what weight constant you're going to use - there is a wide variety of rods out there the same constant that would give good deflection on an ultra-light isn't even going to move a heavy power saltwater rod. Conversely, the weight you'd need to get any measurable deflection on a heavy power rod would destroy many light power rods. Using a given weight turned out to be a poor method. Cortland attempted this years ago and found these issues to be a problem. They quickly discontinued that method.

The better method for determining comparative rod power is to set a deflection amount, based on a percentage of a blank's overall length, and then weigh how much it takes to obtain that distance. Doing it this way you can be sure that as the required weight increases, so does the blank power. It's no coincidence that the CCS uses this method for determining comparative rod power.

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Steve Gardner Wrote:

> high or low resonant frequency

Wow! I am surprised to see this. 99.999999% of all people never think about this aspect of blank construction. I use to do live sound engineering for decades and so this is right up my alley...

This gets to the heart of blank construction which is not really the flag material so much as it is the binder or epoxy that holds it all together.

And, as with concrete, it gets harder over time, as does some epoxies. So resonant frequency can actually change over time as the rod blank epoxy gets harder and harder, its resonant frequency will rise in pitch as well.

One of my favorite rods when lightly tapped with something has a high pitched ring to it. I call it my crystal rod, while other name brand rods made by Loomis have a lower pitch, meaning a softer epoxy binder.

I have found that I prefer blanks with a higher resonant frequency than I do lower resonant frequencies. This is directly related to how sensitive a rod is or not. And how fast its response is.

Think of it like this... if you have a rubber band in your hand for a rod will it transmit vibrations from tip to butt well? The softer it is, or the lower the resonant frequency is, the less sensitive the rod will be in your hands. The stiffer it is, and harder the blank binder or epoxy is, the higher the resonant the frequency will be, and it will transmit vibrations entering the tip to the butt and hands much better.

It is kind of funny and ironic that some of the most expensive rods made today have low resonant frequencies, while one rod I am thinking of was made back in the 80's and sold for like $25 when new, and yet today that rod has the highest resonant frequency of any of my rods. And it was one of the first rods made by Don Mook in one of his new factories way back when... Don Mook built 2 of Gary Loomis blank factories, and built several others over the years...

Leave it to Don Mook on his own to make the crystal rod without Gary Loomis involved... it was actually Don Mook working for Brett Chapman who made this rod. One of a kind too! For a $20 rod it sure is awesome today! Sure wish I could find a second one.

Phil Ewanicki Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Other than the length and weight of a blank what
> PHYSICAL differences distinguish one rod blank
> from another - assuming physical differences can
> be measured?

How it smells.

Robert: I presume the smell you refer to is the smell of money. Not to worry. The bean counters and advertisers have got this one covered, no matter how the rod blank performs.

No I'm weird and smell my blanks. Color me crazy.