spoonplugger1

Looked in all my old catalogs, when tip top tube size is mentioned, it is listed as a 6.0 or 6/64 size. Original real G Loomis rods had Pac Bay guides, after Shimano bought the company, Fuji. The Fuji guides are all stamped with an "F". The ceramic ring sizes changed over the years early rods started with 8s, my early 90's rods were 6s and they probably still are today.

Gudebrod has been gone for maybe a decade now, as is Rice and others. Haven't seen much E thread used in my 40 years of doing this, what do you use it for, decorative wraps?

Mcipinkie, Sure we are, fiberglass is durable but heavier, less responsive, less handy in some situations. I have glass, composite, and varied graphite. If you have a fishing situation where strong, large fish are involved that are going to put your gear and you at your limit, what if you have a graphite rod,, much lighter and handier that will get it done for decades, what do you bring? If your trout fishing brush laden streams where accuracy and casting space is all important, which do you pick, a very fast reacting, abrupt graphite rod, or a slower loading glass rod that gives you a bit more time to get it right on the spot. If it's a tight line, tip down presentation, is graphite still as important, how about slack line presentations, tip up? Which is more likely to keep a light hooked fish on, or treble hooked fish? I don't keep myself up at night worrying about this, but if I haven't done it, how can I recommend, or recognize what others may need? My name is on every rod, even my own, it means something.

Graphene isn't really new, there are generations of it and it has been tried by all the big names. The absence of it's use tells me something. Saw something recently about CTS' impressions of it, don't remember the reason, but they aren't going forward with it. Quick look see, keeping it simple, blanks became more brittle and worse they became super great conductors of electricity, just what you want in thunderstorms among other things.

I reiterate, graphite need not be brittle, the layup of the blank makes all the difference, and they have never used, or needed scrim, people say you can't build a graphite saltwater rod that will hold up and yet Graphite USA, now United Composites has done it for decades and have thousands of satisfied customers to prove it. We're talking all application including rail rods, bass rods, swimbait rods, trout rods, no longer fly rods, but I have 4 fly rods I use for times I can't afford to have a rod failure, the newest one is 15+ years old, the oldest over 20, I don't know how many times they have been used by others that blew their rod(s) up hundreds of miles by air, or boat from the closest rod shop. I have never had one fail. CTS also uses this layup building rods and blanks out of New Zealand, I own two of them, one travel spinning and a 3 wt fly rod and have built many others.

What was the standard modulus used back than? The same still used in the RX6 blanks from Batson, G1000 blanks from Lamiglas, etc.

Fisher has been gone for many decades, IM6 was the first graphite developed where the modulus went up over 25% and so did the toughness to a lesser extent, others before were as high, or higher modulus, but were also more prone the fracture under load. IM7 was slightly higher modulus, same toughness, IM8 slightly higher modulus again. IM9 lower modulus similar to IM7, but tougher. There was no IM10 no matter what you see advertised and even if it was you'd have no idea what you are getting as modulus has nothing to do with the numbering system Today's graphites and especially the resins to bond them are far superior to anything from that period, but you get what you pay for, the latest stuff is way more expensive than decades old stuff, just like the latest 5G phones are more expensive than a flip phone. Fisher didn't have the program written by the Boeing engineers that let him know what every inch of his rod's power and stress would look like before he built it like Gary Loomis had, there was a reason G Loomis grew so fast originally and I believe the first to use IM6.

As an example only, because construction is as variable as the materials, Lamiglas made three blanks using the same mandrel but one was E glass, one was S glass, and one was their Triflex construction, E glass with a graphite overwrap in the butt section. The wall thickness of the butt sections changed obviously as the materials changed to keep the powers as close as they could. The S glass and Triflex blanks were virtually identical in weight, 3/8 of an ounce lighter than the E glass alone version in a 7 ft. Bass rod. The E glass version is still made, the MB 84 1E, the others were the S glass SMB 84 1E, and the Triflex CMB 84 1E. Others have their own versions of composite construction that have been successful for decades, and used reliably in even the most demanding saltwater situations. Of course the all graphite United Composite rods have also been used in those situations reliably for decades also, same materials just used in an aviation inspired layup also gets a very durable rod, I have fly, bass, and saltwater rods all built on this blank construction that held up to 15+ years of abuse including bush plane travel, fly strikes, riding in the bottom of canoes, wilderness travel by foot, horse, ATV, and boat in all conditions, etc. with so far zero failures.

Doubt disclosure will happen we can't even get that on the food we eat. Go to EU and you know what's in the package, who produced it and country of origin, and it's not in fine print. My Batson RX8+ dropshot rod is still the best I've ever used, my RX8 salmon/steelhead rods are dandies also.

The blanks are their own and not available. I've never found them to be anything more than "workhorse" rods, nothing that other blank companies aren't doing better. The guides seem to need work more than others.

Don Morse an excellent rod builder works at Am Tack and the Bushidos all the time, knows their lineup intimately. rattlesnakerods@yahoo.com.

Tube rods have evolved too, they used to be shorter and with the lighter heads they skipped great and spiraled down giving something the bass really seemed to like, I think the older finesse worm rods are probably closer to a what many use now as tube rods.

The Shikari P, IP, and PP 700 blanks are exactly what I was talking about as some of the first successful Xfast of the length we use now, the original rods started much shorter in the 5'3" to 5 '9" range as dropshotting was used most with light line, 1/8 oz max. weights, and shallow water back than. It was a fairly old technique that went out of favor in the US, exploded on the Japanese bass tournaments years later than came back here. I believe I still have a SHX PP700 still in my stash along,with some other leftovers.

It's a very good blank for the money, but a far cry for one of the first dropshot blanks, let alone one of the first x fast blanks, for that you would have to go back 40 years, long before Batson was a company.

Xray blanks are raw, I wouldn't be surprised to see things you'd not see on a sanded blank.

Historically our homebuilt graphite sleeve covered foam core grips were 10 to 15 % lighter than cork, or EVA. Production grips are way more expensive, multiple times more, and they are built for bling not weight savings.

It may be sooner, I got the standard two to three weeks, it was 3 days.

Going up the ramp naturally packs the thread on top, but not on the bottom so your thread has a slant to the left on a single foot, or the left foot on a double foot guide, than you start wrapping on the flat and the wraps all straighten up, leaving a gap on top. Pack the bottom to help straighten out things, don't be afraid to pack further than the guide foot if necessary on the bottom, things will get better as you move on extra packing the bottom to straighten the wrap to vertical. At least that is what I do when I have that problem. Good luck.

Sometimes I wonder if some people reviewing a rod actually had it in their hand, and if they did, they understood why it was built that way, on purpose and with much thought behind it. Someone mentioned a blanks large diameter, if you want a rod to be stiffer, without adding weight or additional material you make it with a larger diameter, this has always been known in the rod building industry. Another simple question, what reel seat would be lighter, one with a 1/2 inch hole in it, or one with a 3/8 hole? One of the rules of racing applies here, nothing is lighter than a hole. A blank built with twice the diameter using the same amount of material will be 9 times stiffer. The reason why glass blanks aren't skinny rods. The reel seat is made in the US, when was the last time you used a US reel seat? You'll notice the threads a round cut, not square cut like other seats, this design has been around 40 years, or better, all the high end old Loomis rods had them. The aluminum nut was designed a bit sloppy so that it would ride up on the round threads and jam, keeping your reel more securely locked down, now others use a double nut to do the same thing. The Loomis MBR 4 power blanks are all 70's designs, that changed the industry forever, everything before them were broom handles, when the bass industry found lighter more effective presentations, Loomis was right there with the rod to do it, they didn't have to reinvent the wheel. Doesn't surprise me that Edge rods are not old 70's designs, thing have changed a lot out there since than. Finally check out the videos from Edge, you'll see they don't use the same business model as the big companies, they have no distributors, or dealers. Like custom builders if you blow up a rod they have to start from ground zero, there are no big warehouses full of stock. If you've never had to wait for a US built rod/blank after blowing it up, you haven't been around long, I've waited for product from all of them. Edge is not for everybody and they don't try to be, originally they were never supposed to exist, Gary custom built some rods for the industry to review, the results caused people flooding him with requests for "that rod" not the blank, it was an unintended consequence.

Back in my early days to bend a blank to 90 degrees like mentioned above I just laid it perpendicular in a dresser drawer and closed the drawer on it till it stopped than bent away. Fancy stuff and ways come much later in your addiction, have fun and keep your money till you do it so often that efficiencies start mattering.

I don't hold much to lure ratings, they can get a bit carried away sometimes, line ratings are closer I think. The All Star blank I mentioned, I believe it was listed as the BAST 813 in the All Star catalog, was rated 1/8 - 1 oz., I didn't believe it and it's not even close to that rating, just like the St. Croix blank. One thing I will say about this style blank, if you can't put it in the hands of a complete novice and have them pretty comfortable with a casting setup fairly quickly, that person never will get it.

I built a rod on the All Star Titanium Tops and Tails blank many years ago, very similar to the St. Croix MXF in power and action.

We've been using graphite tube grips for 20 years or better. Best thing there is in a rod holder for getting it in and out, all my kayak rods also have them, not the slightest bit interested in any interferences, or snag ups in a kayak. Salmon and steelhead anglers like them a lot, #1 by a large margin, no one is blowing them up.

Don't they still make the Legend full grip also? They used to. Anyway, I'd give a serious looking the Edge rods on sale right now, full graphite grips, titanium guides, great stuff there at a great price. They do REC guides if you want them, the Legend X used to have them. Just finished another 9 1/2 ft steelhead rod spinning rod on their blanks, 4.3 oz. out the door for Xmas. Phenomenal blanks and rods.