Building rods

[striperboyz]

So the warranty thread got me thinking about building my own rod, it sounds like a lot of fun and I'm going to have a lot of down time this March and April, can you save any money doing it? People have told me you really don't save anything after you invest in everything necessary for the construction of the rod. So I guess I'm curious what the major costs of materials are? what are the advantages? can you tailor the action of the rod? Good how to book recommendations?


Thanks,

Josh

[Slappy]

You have to do it! I am a nut about my rods--I want them my way! I have wrapped over a hundred, some for me some for others. You don't save money in the long run because you buy more rods, nothing wrong with that. I used to be really into great wraps, but now it is about getting them done and on the water. This approach makes it easy--you can do simple wraps and put a rod together in a couple hours. The best part of rod building is that you can spend the same money and get a top quality rod with the components that you like. You have a really wide array of blanks to choose from, you can add your favorite style of grip and the best guides. Last year I built myself a loomis surf rod, I built it to be light and it weighs about half what my buddy's rod does. I can't give you any advice on fly rods, but on anything else I can. I even use custom rods for ice fishing--just say no to tip ups!
My advice:
Try it.
Don't worry about the quality of your wraps, focus on components.
You will cut the wraps off later and try again.
Don't worry about guide placement or alignment. You can move them later if you mess up.
If you use a reel seat, make sure it is exactly where you want it because you are not going to like having to move it!

[Ray]

Building a fly rod really isn't that hard. In my experience the cost is about $100 over the cost of the blank. You can save $$. I can built a complete rod in 2 days. 1 to build and wrap it, the second to do the finishing work. Call The Bear's Den for book suggestions.

Ray

[echo]

Check out Cabela's for rod building kits. I'm sure their components are not the best, but you can try building a rod to see if you like it and if you're not happy with the results you haven't broken your bank. If you like it then you can move up to something bigger and better. The kits come complete so you don't need to worry about shopping for all the components. Look at it as a learning experience. I built a 6 wt fly rod for light saltwater fishing that I'm taking to USVI next week, I think the rod kit cost me $65-70 and a couple evenings to put it together.

[striperboyz]

Can you really mess around with the action of the rod? Guide placement would be the only thing I would think you could control, so would this change the action of the rod?


Josh

[Slappy]

You can change the action of a rod. You can cut from the tip or the butt. Guide placement has some, but little impact. After you build a rod you will realize that the biggest thing you do to change how a rod feels is add the guides. Heavy guides with lots of wrapping softens a rod and makes it feel heavier, while lighter wraps and guides keep it truer to the feel of the blank. My recent trend has been to use light guides, light handles, little wrapping, and very little flex-coat--this really changes the rods and I am building casting and surf rods--I would imagine it would make even more of a difference with fly-rods.

My recommendation is don't spend too much time trying to change the action of the rod. Buy one with an action that you like. There are so many blanks out there and most people buy just the popular ones. I buy a rod based on its action and characteristics, not the manufacturer. Taper is usually the crucial issue. The taper and quality of the rod are what gives them their feel. That said, I have a couple low quality rods that I really like!

[mansfieldsign]

I've been looking into this myself for a surf rod. Finding the natural spine
of the blank seems important. Also, from what I've read so far, guide placement differs for a baitcaster vs spinreel rod (which side of the spine you use.) I'm not sure what it would be for a fly rod.

[Slappy]

Guide placement along the spline is very important. Splines have 2 sides, a soft side and a stiff side. For 2 piece rods, you always want to be on the soft side. If you have a spinning rod where you continually have to align the 2 sections, it is because the guides were not lined up on the spline.

[sandeel9]

It's fun, easy, and you can save some $. Ultimately, there's something a little special about a rod that you constructed. Some shops may offer rod building classes, which is all you need to know the basics. Give it a try!

[sage fly guy]

Good how to book recommendations?





Pm me with your address and I'll send you a good beginners(free) book on Fly Rod building. I've got it laying around and it's jsut taking up space.

I've built everything from a 19 Cape Fear to 4 weight St. Croix. Like Ray said 2 days to build a good quality stick. Starting off, take your time and build it over 2 weeks to get it perfect.

For some good info check out this site www.rodbuilding.org, good people that can answer any question.

chris