The terms now are pretty mixed up. A good UK custom builder will cherry pick what he wants to use from all over the world - Recoil rings (US made) - Pacbay, Alps, Strubble reel seat - Chinese, Korean, US blank or even British blank. Spend a few hours making it up and it's Made in the UK in the mind of the person dealing with that builder. Despite the fact that the only parts of that rod was the labour, the person buying knows that rod was made specially for them, thats custom building not factory building.
Craft manufacture has begun to grow on the tackle scene. David Norwich has been doing it for years. Burkheimer rods - makes his own blanks - special rings, grip turned from shives, nice reelseat. Cane builders like Gary Nicholson, Gary Marshall, Edward Barder, etc etc- start with cane culms and really make their own blanks by hand - then fit rings and seats.
Reel makers - have a look at a Waldron reel - or any of a host of Scandinavian and US craft makers -
http://flyreelmania.free.fr/In the UK we have centre-pin manufacturers. Part of the deal, part of the price and the wait, is knowing that the reel is hand made by the guy you speak to on the phone.
Net makers - so long as you want a wooden scoopnet - plenty of beautiful nets to be had
That type of manufacturings is essentially one or two men and their workshop. Fantastic - more power to their elbows. I feature as much of that type of gear as I can in FF&FT. I do wish some of those guys would look forwards rather than playing the heritage card quite so often or so strongly. I guess thats to do with why they do what they do. Then there are rogue figures like Ari t'Hart producing simply stunning designs.
Such as it is, the cutting edge of reel and rod design is in the R&D departments of a very few tackle companies. Hardy Greys have invested a lot in that area - far far more than most. They've also reached outside - briefly employed Ari t'Hart - used a Russian design team for a couple of reel designs.
Could those custom builders and craft manufacturers supply the demand for rods and reels? Nope!
