(i know i am so out of topic) [:D]
i could write an article out of this, but i am not in the circle of rodbuilders as yet, and thus have no authority on rodbuilding. here’s the lowdown; i build rods, mostly for my own perusal, and have been doing so since 2005. i do build some for my friends once a while. i’d call myself an amateur rodbuilder with very little experience but with lots of passion. i do not consider my rods to be very advanced or state-of-the-art. i simply consider them tailored to do the things they’re intended to. i consider rodbuilding to be an addictive ‘dark art’ that is very rewarding when its done right.
i learnt it the hard way. due to inexperience in fishing, i have broken quite a number of rods. curiosity led me to dissect them. it is during the dissection that i learnt how rods were put together, how they broke, what makes an expensive rod expensive, and how some great rods managed to keep the costs low. and from here, i learnt how to carefully seperate the components from the blank without damaging the blanks. this proves to be very useful when refurbishing favorite rods.
first question, why build a rod when there’s so many on the shelves already? cost? design? something not right about it(to you)? you prefer a longer butt? you prefer another colour? there are thousands of reasons.
ask yourself 1st what is your own priority in choosing a rod. the general dictum ‘cheap thing no good, good thing no cheeap’ holds true for MOST cases. i say MOST because there are some dark horses around that are great rods, but totally underestimated (when put to the right implementation)
as uncle thomas has pointed out, customizing a rod for yourself don’t come cheap. if its cheap then something’s gotta give. but then again, charging too highly for a custom rod may deter some. so be realistic, if you want something exclusive, highly personalized, top of the range, then be prepared for it. if not, i suggest just go and get whatever’s on the shelf.
ROD BLANKS. that is the main question. cheap blanks, expensive blanks… if graphite, how many percent graphite? stiffness? power? overall weight of rod? balance? extra-fast action? slow, parabolic curve? lifting power? IM6 to IM9, 30-tonne graphite etc…too many parameters to specify…pening leh!
let’s not get to where the blanks are made yet. now, most of them come from china anyway. MOST. the probability of any fishing rod that a general angler might have coming from china is about a good 60-75% if not more. the other bulk are from Japan, USA, Indonesia, Korea and Malaysia (i know i missed out some other countries but u get the idea)
yeah, so i’ve diverted from the main topic. BLANKS. you may have come across many terms some major industry players use to describe teir blanks. SVF graphite, cross-scrim, multi-layer bias laminate, aramid veil and so on. from my memory, pre-preg graphite sheets are rolled on tapered steel mandrels in variable layers and different configurations(longitudinal,horizontal or oblique) to create certain action/power etc or to reinforce certain areas of the blanks(such as spigot joints), and then baked to fuse the resin within the carbon sheets, creating the blanks. addition of titanium fibers, kevlar and other reinforcing materials may be added to make the blanks stand out from the others. more layers of carbon sheets, thicker-walled blanks, and vice versa. very intricate process to specify how a rod blank behaves.
depending on amount of carbon used in the blanks, flexibility and stiffness can be modulated. flexible rods are not as sensitive as stiffer ones. stiffer rods are more brittle. lighter rods are usually thin walled…and so on, with regards to regular rod blanks. more resin used in the blanks=heavier blanks. so if you want something that is light, strong, sensitive…think of how the blank may be constructed. it won’t come cheap as it will need reinforcements and additional exotic material to build, reduced-resin high density carbon…etc
take the St Croix rods for example(i am neither an agent nor an affiliate to them, for record keeping. they are just easier to relate to, for me at least): SCI–>SCII–>SCIII–>SCIV–>SCV. price is higher towards SCV. carbon content is more in SCV. SCV is more crisp than SCII. you get the idea. that being said, SCI-SCII is more forgiving.
your fishing style may not need all the sensitivity in the world for all you care. you are a haruan hunter who stalks the bushes and swamps with your mesin katak and yanks the haruan ouf of the water with thousands of kilos of drag on you reel and 100lb braid. ok i was exaggerating. you don’t need an SCV, or even an SCI for that matter. you need a fiberglass rod. sarcasm aside, if you ask me to build a rod for you just for exclusivity, i would not offer you a high-modulus graphite rod, based on your type/style of fishing. this is a very important information to relay to you custom rod-builder. there are people who spend over RM1K for a SC legend elite and complain that it is a lousy rod because it broke during fishing. the onus is on you. understand what you are buying. if you don’t, then you don’t understand yourself. stop wasting money like that and donate to the Japan Earthquake Fund instead!
a good rodbuilder asks what his customer wants, not sell them what he has and tells them this is what they need, so ask yourself again what you want before going ahead. is it for exclusivity, by customizing the rod with expensive, rare components to stand out from the crowd? is it to improve castability? is it to maximize the rod’s power? only you yourself can answer that question.
happy rodbuilding.
p/s: feel free to ‘taruk’ as we all need a bit of excitement around. [:D] hope to exchange views and ideas as well with the local reputable and reknowned rodbuilders around, and also understand the general fishing public’s views on custom rods.
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