[Irvine Ross]

Hi Sandy

Your custom grip is nice and quite tasteful, but not for me. I would choose to spend the money on plain top quality cork.  It's a matter of personal taste and I just like things simple. Good proportion is more important to me than decoration that has no function.

Irvine

[Sandy Nelson]

Cool

So the trick would be to offer Both Super high grade plain cork and a customised signature grip
And then let people decide for themselves

Good stuff

Would you reckon the same for reelseats or just take a custom seat and offer different wood.

Is it too many choices? or if there was a choice of say 4 types of wood would you be able to pick a style?

Sandy

[Irvine Ross]

Would you reckon the same for reelseats or just take a custom seat and offer different wood.

Is it too many choices? or if there was a choice of say 4 types of wood would you be able to pick a style?

Sandy

Sandy

Depends on how many types of rod you are going to be building. Wood inserts would not be suitable for salt water and a switch or salmon rod might need a heavier reel seat than a #5 trout rod. Also the stealth fanatics would be likely to ask for black fittings while others would look for  nickel silver or might want titanium to match their new reel.

My guess is you would have to offer a broad range to suit all possible customers.

Orrabest

Irvine

[Rob Brownfield]

Sandy,
Its on my wish list...but instead of heading to the US as Cassie does every January with work (with a list of things to get me ), the sod has gone the other way and leaves for Singapore on Friday night! Typical...

Having said that..she now has a revised list

As for your reel seats...what I ended up doing for the Pike Fly Fishing Association was to give a price for the rod, based on a basic fitting type setup...so that was blank, handle, standard reel seat, plain whipping and rod bag, oh, and of course some time from me.

When someone ordered a rod, I would get in touch, but let them know that they could pick colour of blank, reel seat, higher grade cork etc, but at additional cost (so if the standard reel seat was a tenner, and they wantd one that cost me £15..they get charged an extra fiver).

Seemed to work well, except it sometimes took months and months for certain things, especially fancy reel seats, to come in from the US or Australia.

I was and am not in the position to carry a stock of seats/handles, but a man of your means, you probably have piles of them sitting around the house

[Ben Dixon]

Sandy,

 I would go for the option of the colourful grip and make the rods as standard with top quality plain cork.  As for reel seats, what you fit should really depend upon the blank and possibly any reel (or weight of reel) that you recommend to go with it.  A rod built from a slower blank with more mass in the tip would probably be better with a heavier reel seat tp give that light in the hand feel off the rod rack.  From an aesthetic point I do like the look of a nice wood reel seat & Ni but for practical reasons I would prefer a carbon insert or a full Al or Ti reel seat.  All the wood spacers I have had have swollen as a result of my mistreatment and Ni fittings tarnish!!  TO get around the stealth fanatics I would use a brushed or dull finish seat.
As for rings, single leg recoils on "fishing" 5wts and lighter and the same but in heavier wire on poker 5wts and above, strippers would have to be nanolite Ti's.

Cheers

Ben

[Sandy Nelson]

I was and am not in the position to carry a stock of seats/handles, but a man of your means, you probably have piles of them sitting around the house

Very good

I wish But you never know .

Its nice to see people's own ideas coming through

Cheers

Sandy

[Rob Brownfield]

Ben,
I fitted a full Ti reel seat to a saltwater rod...OMG! It was sooooo heavy..and at £95, expensive too! It was one of the Struble ones, so top quality..but the weight!!...as you can guess...it was heavy ..did I mention the weight!

It was a lovely "brushed" effect and really did look good.

Some nice carbon inserts available, in different colours. The green "matrix" one for the Sage blanks is stunning.

Not sure about your Nanolites though...I prefer the Fuji Ti's myself...seem a nicer finish.

Have to say you are one of the few people that has recognised that the weight of the reel seat can make a difference to how a rod feels in the hand. Jolly good point! I have actually araldited lead into the bass of a blank to improve its "feel" as the reel seat was light.

Good discussion.