For a rod builder, the most often asked question is: “Why do I need a CUSTOM built fly rod anyway?”

Well, following are some design and construction details for those who would like to know the details of what goes into the construction of a fly rod and then you can understand why a custom rod is so much better. Attention to Details, Details, Details . . .

QUALITY CONTROL: Excellent quality is always top priority. From the manufacture of the blank to the quality of the epoxy finish placed on the threads. Customers always expect the highest quality for their dollars spent, so why not do it right the first time. It’s a lot easier than doing it over.

VISUAL INSPECTIONS: Inspection of the rod sections and components when they arrive to make sure they are the proper ones that were ordered for the customer. The surface finish of each blank section is inspected for blemishes and straightness. Most all blank sections, especially the tip most sections, have an inherent curve, it’s just a matter of how much. If the curve appears to be too much to produce a proper rod, it goes back for exchange. I have only had to do this once and never with the high quality American manufacturers. That’s why I choose to use their blanks exclusively.

LOCATE SPINE: All blanks have a “spine”, or what we’ll call a backbone, on which the guides are placed to allow the rod to work along this stronger vein of the blank. The spine and curve of each section is determined individually and should work together with the next section as a unit when assembled for the complete rod. Some manufacturers use the visible curve of the section on which to place the guides as opposed to the "spine" of the blank. This technique ensures a visually straight rod when viewing down the line of guides and, more often than not, this curve does follow the natural spine of the blank anyway.

REEL SEAT: The reel seat is cleaned and assembled with 24 hour epoxy and set aside to cure. I never use 5-min epoxies or thermoplastic adhesives – You can’t rush quality!

CORK GRIP: The cork grip is fitted to the blank in conjunction with completed reel seat, and secured with long cure epoxy and set aside to cure. If a special grip shape is desired, individual cork rings are fitted to the blank and turned to shape on a lathe.

GUIDES and TOP: The feet of the guides are prepared by shaping the ends to a fine edge so the thread has a smooth transition from the blank surface onto the guide foot. I also ensure that the entire length of the guide feet lay flat along the blank with no part of the guide foot gouging the blank surface. Like a chisel slowly cutting into wood, this will cause erosion at the specific point and will, in time, cause the rod to fail at this point. The tip top is abraded inside with a very small drill bit and then cleaned with a degreaser so contaminants from the manufacturing process do not remain and prevent the epoxy from bonding. A fishing rod is not much good when the tip comes off!!!
Time spent in guide and tip top preparation saves many hours of repairs in the future. Do it right the first time!!!

After the guides are prepared they are taped to the blank along the spine so a static flex test can be performed to see how the stresses of casting and fighting fish are applied to the rod. If all is well, time is spent test casting to see how the guide placement will affect casting distance. Testing is performed using several line weights to see the results of each. Usually the line ratings from the manufacturers are fairly accurate but the customer can still fine tune the style of his or her fishing with various line weights as desired.

THREAD WORK: After the test casting, the rod is cleaned and all contaminates from the building process are removed and then prepared for wrapping of the guides to the blank. Nylon thread manufactured by Gudebrod in size "A" is used to wrap all but the heaviest fly rods. It's strong and has beautiful color. I use the type that does not need color preserver (NCP - no color preserver) because I want the epoxy to penetrate the wraps all the way to the blank. Color preserver on regular thread prevents the epoxy from causing the thread to go translucent when applied - It preserves the color !!!

I want MY epoxy finish on the threads - NOT on the color preserver! For a complete chart of the NCP thread colors that I have, go to this part of the GUDEBROD website and see the display of NCP threads. Unfortunately, Gudebrod has severely reduced the color selection that is available to the custom rod builder but I still have a good selection of the threads that have been discontinued. There are several other thread producers out there of which I am testing their threads to see how they perform.

As you can see within the pictures displayed, most of the color schemes on my fly rods have been somewhat reserved and subtle. However, if you would like to really shine and would like to have something as bright as the Las Vegas strip - let me know and we can do it!!!

EPOXY FINISHING: The thread holds the guides in place – the epoxy protects the thread! This epoxy is not an adhesive but it should adhere to the blank as it flows over the edges of the wraps to make them moisture proof. You can see this in the pictures of the guides on the DETAILS page. The threads are thoroughly coated with the epoxy finish and rotated while curing to allow for a smooth glass like finish. This initial coat cures for at least 16 hours and is then inspected for dust specks or other minor imperfections that are present. These “defects” are removed and a second coat is applied to cover the affected areas. Epoxy in light coats is applied until no thread patterns are visible. When the last coat is without blemish, an additional two more days of curing is allowed, and then the rod is processed for shipment to the customer.

Over several days, the approximate total time is between six and eight hours of labor for a standard nine foot fly rod. Add a decorative butt wrap, an extended fighting butt, add a second fighting grip above the regular grip for REAL big bluewater fishing, and you have a few days just for labor to complete a fly rod.

You can’t rush HIGH QUALITY . . .!! Isn’t that what you, the customer, expects?