Building my own rod - my first attempt

[Fishsniper]

Good luck, your going to need it

[poodoo]

I'm sure it will turn out good FC. What kind of rod are you building a soft plastics one?

[Fish-cador]

What blank is the rod getting built on?

From innovator - same blank as the Nitro

[Fish-cador]

I'm sure it will turn out good FC. What kind of rod are you building a soft plastics one?

for SP and cala... and all rounder I hope.

[Fish-cador]

Good luck, your going to need it

Thanks Frank.

I have enough experience replacing rod guides. I am confident I can pull this off easily. :rofl:

[Fishsniper]

It's not going to be easy but you should have alot of fun trying, i tried it myself a few years ago and it was a disaster :a_goodjob: :thumbsup:

[4liters]

Good luck. I'd love to try it one day but I'm not sure which blanks are the good ones to get and whether or not they're any better than those on an off-the-shelf rod.

[ncr1]

Good on you for giving it a go. If you can get past the many frustrations of trial-and-error rodbuilding without ending up in a psychiatric's chair, then you might end up with a creative passion for life. It's a fantastic hobby. I've been doing it for more than 20 years now and love it. Learning the basics is not too difficult, however, making something professional above and beyond the commercially available rods takes a bit more experience.

However, first rule with rodbuilding - don't do it with the intention of saving money. It's just not realistic. Even if you get a blank at a discount price, the money still gets swallowed up after buying guides, grips, seats, and materials (araldite, epoxy finish, thread, etc). I rarely build rods for myself, but have just given myself a bit of a treat with my latest tax return. I just ordered components for 3 rods from mudhole and this set me back nearly $700. And there was nothing special about the components - mid-range blanks, alconite guides, EVA grips, fuji seats. So you can see that it's very difficult to build 'budget' style.

And I think that the quote of $150 for an experience rodbuilder to build up your blank is actually quite reasonable. After all, that's only 5 hours of work at $30/hr. For me, 5 hours would be my ABSOLUTE minimum time require to build up a rod, and that's without designing the layout, cutting/shaping the grips, no fancy bindings, etc.

But certainly have fun with your first attempt. And feel free to shoot me any questions you may have during the process. Good luck.

[Fish-cador]

Thanks ncr1.

The package is on its way! :super: Thanks to mud hole for only charging the actual shipping fee which was half what I actually paid for. :a_goodjob:

Yourtube helps a lot these days. Mud hole's tutorial videos are great! They made it look so easy.

I am confident this will be an easy job. :rofl: I can wrap guides. I can even weave names. I might actually weave my name on it provided it wont look too flashy.

[Fish-Hunter]

Good on ya FC for attempting to build your first rod, it will be a very rewarding experience for you. I used to help out in a tackle shop in Melbournes western suburbs in the early 90's "The Bent Rod Shop" the owner Andrew Gutherie was a great rod builder, I watched him build custom rods & got him to build me several rods. Sadly he closed down after approx 5yrs of trading, but I still own one of his handcrafted rods :thumbsup: