My wife wanted to know what I wanted for an early Father's day present since I will be back here in Iraq for it and she wanted to get me something for when I come home in 3 weeks (I THINK). Anyways I told her I wanted a custom built rod... nothing fancy just a 7 foot WORM ROD with a split grip and spiral wrap... and of course a patriotic or ARMY theme... now here is where I am running into trouble... the guy I THOUGHT I was going to tell her to talk to no longer accepts internet orders  :'(

SO can one of my buds here please shoot me a PM and let me know if you can help me out with a name? Its not going to be a high end rod.. we can't afford much with me coming home... we are taking a vacation to Orlando.read $$$$$$$$$$$$..... so I was thinking something in the $150 range shipped

Thanks to anyone that wants to accept this challenging task..

AL

I hope one of the rod builders can help you out. I am not a rod builder yet, but I just wanted to say at the very least, thank you for your sacrifice.

If you ever get stationed at Fort Lewis, WA, let me know. I don't have a boat but I know a couple of places we can land smallmouth bass from the bank. My treat.

Stay safe and God bless you and your family.

thank you an all

Al,

I kept hoping someone else would respond, I hate being a kill joy.

3 weeks isn't much time for a themed rod, unless the builder already had everything he needed in stock, including decals for the theme.  The other problem is money.  I think that your $150 might cover the cost of materials, but that's only a guess since I don't know what blank you are looking for.

Sorry

ok no problem... the wife asked and I told her what I wanted and she told me to see if I could work it out... I am not going to stress about it, we have had a bad couple of days and believe me the last thing in the world I am worried about is getting a fishing rod...  *shrug* can't talk about it because I doubt if the next of kin has been notified...  anyways I will start saving my pennies and maybe I can work something out with someone for when I redeploy in August.. would that be enough time? what would be a better price range? I wouldn't want anyone to do this for free by any means...

AL

Sorry to hear about the past couple days...  I'll continue to pray for all of you guys (and gals).  I'm just down the road from Ft. Hood, so I have Soldiers in my heart.  

Lead times are dependent on the builder.  I used to quote 4-6 weeks (build time) from when I got materials delivered, but with a few rods in line it became several months.  But I was only building on off time from my real job.  I honestly can't say how most guys price but I always do my actual cost on materials & shipping plus $100 labor for a basic split gripped spiral wrap.  All the decorative extras are priced extra, sort of a la carte.  As you cam imagine, the materials cost are wildly variable.  

You might consider posting a custom rod thread and see who people recommend, that will give you some people to contact for specifics.

Hope that helps.

thanks for the input... my focus is now on getting and sepending some quality time with the family... in 21 days

AL