Hello,

I’d like to add some finish to my G.Loomis GL4 blank since I don‘t like matt finishes. Does anyone have any experience or advice? Is it OK? How does it change the blank action? Which finishing stuff to use?
Thanks in advance.

Alan Gasior, Prague, Czech Republic

It will not change the action in any way, shape or form, but you will give up a bit of performance as you are adding weight to the blank. The original intent of the first non-finished blanks was to squeeze every drop of performance out of the particular design and material. The matte finish is a finish, just a low gloss variety. If you finish over that, you have doubled the finish weight. Will it ruin the rod? No, but it will have some effect, possibly noticeable.

Altering the finish of your blank will also void the warranty in most cases. But if you are still inclined to do it, you should remove the existing finish before you refinish to cut down on weight and hopefully preserve the ferrule fit if you are working with a multi-piece rod (You are still going to have to do some hand work in that area to restore good ferrule fit).

Search the archives here for tips on how to do this sort of thing. There has been plenty of discussion on it.

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To me that is to much work unless you know a custom auto painter that has a controlled enviroment (temprature & dust free) Doing a finish chane takes more time than it does to build a rod.
Good Luck Bob