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What makes a custom rod better than one that I buy at my local sporting goods store?
There are many excellent fly rods out there that are very high quality and will suit most people just fine. The high end rods are made with high quality components that will out last the fisherman. Even the cheap made in China rods have good IM6 or higher graphite. Here are some of the differences.
THE BLANK - The blank is the main part of the rod. Many of the blank manufacturers have higher quality lines of blanks that are sold exclusively to custom rod builders. They tend to be lighter and stronger with action selection than the blanks that they sell to the corporations that turn out thousands of rods per year. Some sell exclusively to custom rod builders. You can even get made in U.S.A. blanks that come with UNCONDITIONAL LIFETIME WARRANTIES. That means you can run it over with your car or slam the car door on it and the blank will be covered by a warranty. They can also be made to any color of the rainbow including color shifting.
THE GUIDES – This is something that has come a long way in the last few years. It used to be that guides were made out of stainless steel. Most people would think that stainless is strong and won’t wear out. This is probably true for people that can only get out to fish once or twice a year but if you look at your old fly rod with stainless steel guides on them you will probably find that they are worn. This causes the guides to wear out your expensive fly line faster. Modern guides are made from materials like aluminum oxide (very hard and light) titanium oxide (harder) titanium carbide (even harder) titanium nitride (still harder) and silicon carbide (so hard you can take a file to it and you will dull your file). Guides for custom rod builders can also come in colors like gold (titanium nitride), blue (titanium oxide) and even, HOLOGRAPHICALLY laser etched titanium nitride. The guides are then attached with any thread combination you can think of.
THE GRIP – Everyone has different size hands and like grips that are differently shaped. This makes it difficult to get a factory rod that has the grip you want with the rod that is perfect for you. If you want a 2WT rod with a full wells grip it will be almost impossible to find. With a custom rod you get the shape grip you want out of whatever kind of material you want. Some people like cork that has flaws because it gives the grip some character. Others like it to be flawless with a very uniform feel. Some people prefer the look and feel of rubberized cork. Others like wood. My personal favorite is burl cork (see photo page)
THE REEL SEAT – Reel seats come in everything from slip rings to nickel silver locking reel seats. There are dozens of reel seats to choose from that have different colors and materials. The insert (between front and rear hoods) can be made of just about any material you can imagine. Hardwoods are the most popular and usually the nicest looking. One of the big differences between a factory rod and one that is custom built is the way the reel seat is attached to the blank. Many factories use masking tape as a method for taking up the extra space in between the reel seat and the blank. While this is an easy and cheap way to do it masking tape compresses and acts like a shock absorber making it harder to detect slight strikes. I use graphite arbors. They are lighter and harder than masking tape or cork. This means when you are fishing with a small nymph you know the fish tries tasting it and can set the hook before the fish has a chance to spit it out.