The bass industry took strong notice of the fly fishing market during the 1990's. They saw the keystone margins that the dealers were getting and how clever marketing convinced the consumers that the stuff was a bargain even at those extremely high prices (premium fly rods approached $800 to $850 during the late 1990's and serious fly fishermen wouldn't consider anything less). We've now come
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There was an in-depth article in RodMaker concerning how to determine the actual cost, all costs, of producing a custom rod. This was in the series on custom rod pricing which also included a list of builders in various geographic regions of the U.S. and what they charged for a list of various rods. The physical cost for each rod type was outlined and fixed. The final selling price varied wide
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Gross profit is the amount above and beyond the purely physical costs of producing an item. Net profit is the amount left after "overhead" has been taken out of the gross profit. Things like insurance, heat, lights, rent, advertising, labor, etc. Few custom rod builders operate in a stand-alone business type situation, so they often don't factor in things like this. But they should
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I use BreakFree to wipe down my lathe bed (steel) with. If you bed is cast iron, however, it really won't require much of anything. A light rust may form but it won't get much worse than that. ...........
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That depends. Is it a 1st quality blank - did it come in a bag with a header card and decal? That would allow you to peg the current or original price. You should know by now that there will be no warranty insofar as any replacement blank being offered if you have a problem with it. ...................
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As far as I know, they source them from an overseas supplier which they have control over. They have them made to their specs, however, so these aren't something you can buy elsewhere. TFO will not be using blanks made by North Fork (Loomis). Gary is simply lending a hand in the design and outfitting of the TFO rods just as Lefty has done with their fly rods. .......
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Extending the rod will create a faster action. 2 inches won't be a huge difference, but it will make some difference. The first guide is important in that it will provide the height required to keep the line off or out from under the blank under full load. That's why it's generally larger or higher, or both. On rods with no foregrip or where you don't place your hand in front of the reel or wh
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Gary and Jon are there and have been in meetings all week with prospective dealers. ..............
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I was asked not to divulge too much. For now think G.Loomis circa 1995. The days prior to selling to Shimano. About 150 models of fly, casting, spinning, trout/panfish, spin bass, spin jig, hot shot, popping, light saltwater, etc. 3 or 4 varieties of graphite, no paint, no clear coat, just raw, naked carbon. Focus is strictly on performance, not cosmetics. They will not be offering finished ro
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From what I understand, those blanks are clones of the same G. Loomis, Inc. models. They are hoping these will replace the more popular models of the G. Loomis line that will no longer be available soon. ............
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I believe that's correct - his rods were called "Joysticks." For the newer guys who may not be aware, Joy is one of the oldest active rod builders around. He is well known to most anyone that was part of custom rod building back in the 60's and 70's and was a founding member of the Dale Clemens RodCrafter group. It will be nice to see him at the Expo. .............
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They were considered the Cadillac of rod grips for offshore trolling rods. They became very expensive (nobody was involved in "do-it-yourself" grip flocking without special equipment prior to the RodMaker article) and eventually disappeared from all but the very high end rods (Fin-Nor, Biscayne, etc.). Yes, what you propose would make an exceptional grip for a stand-up rod. ......
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Pretty much, yes. Gary isn't going to "work" for TFO. He'll advise them on some things and be paid for lending his name. ...........
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Gary is just doing a little consulting work for TFO. He is not going to be part of the normal operations there any more than Lefty Krey is. North Fork Composites is being launched at the ICast show this week. I have already viewed their pre-production catalog and there will be a lot of very happy rod builders shortly. ...............
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Rodbuilder Supplies, link to the left, is the only one I know of, but they're not in Ontario. .............
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You don't have to change all your guides. In fact, you may find that the height of the 12 ring in the tiptop actually matches the height of the guides better. It won't matter, much. You'll never notice it. The weight of a single size 12 tiptop would be less than the weight of moving to all size 12 running guides. Between the two options, I'd just stick with the size 12 tiptop. .............
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Not sure what the purpose of that would be, but yes you can do it because epoxy doesn't need air to cure. .............
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Yes, but a recent sale of the company left their R&D work in the lurch. But, it has been done and could be brought around again depending upon who the new company president will be. ...........
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The paper itself isn't applying the clamping force - the thread does that. The paper is simply there to protect the decal surface from the thread. A few wire ties won't equally spread the force out over the entire surface. .............
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For starters dump the wire ties and use a full thread wrap. That's the only way to apply clamping pressure to the entire decal. What you're describing here sounds as if the decal would not stick to itself, or it simply pulled the acrylic film off the paper where the two ends overlapped. If the ink also came off the paper, I'd have to wonder about that particular paper. ............
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If you're going to be casting and retrieving, you'll want a rod that isn't so long that you can't handle it comfortably all day. I'd limit myself to no more than 10-1/2 feet for sure. If you can get the distance you want with a 9 to 9-1/2 footer, so much the better. If it's still available, take a look at the Seeker CSU100 for starters. GUSA used to make a Surf Assassin that in the heaviest p
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If you have a lathe to do this with, you don't even have to cut the cork. Just sand it down to the blank level at whatever length you desire. ............
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Okay, attached to the rod with RodBond, not ring to ring. In that case what John suggests is probably your easiest bet. ............
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Is the grip already on the rod, or is it still in stand-alone form? ...........
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Ben, That video depicted a straight pull to failure for tensile test, not a break from a horizontal load limit failure. As I said, I'm pulling the plug on this discussion because it has become painfully obvious what's going on here. It is unfair to those not well informed on the technical merits of such discussions to be led astray by those who use a plethora of words in order to make it so
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A load limit failure of a linear fiber aligned carbon tube does not look like that. In such a failure, the fibers on the bottom of the matrix will blow out resulting in splits along the longitude of the underside of the tube immediately followed by the collapse of the tube which folds the top fibers at an extreme angle resulting in perpendicular breaks in those fibers on the top. What you pho
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You just have to keep working on it. Anything you do more drastic than gentle heat, such as chemical paint removers or that sort of thing is going to harm the finish in the surrounding area. .............
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If you use the Concept system, you would naturally use very small, low frame and very lightweight guides. ............
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You can't. They either have their email address open and available, or they do not wish to be contacted. ................
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Eugene, Your quote: "I don't believe Denis's thesis was meant to say that it's implementation would increase the ultimate failure point of the blank but rather to alert us of the fact that adding guides to a blank changes the way the loads are distributed through it. The blank is strongest with the load hung from the tip top. By moving the load to a line strung through guides the stren
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