Many years back when fiberglass rods were considered by many to be "subpar" to graphite, I purchased a quantity of fiberglass blanks from a friend. A few years ago I began to notice a resurgance in fiberglass and dug them out of a box in the corner of my shop. I discovered most are vintage Fenwick spinning and casting blanks, (the yellow ones), with a couple of finished rods mixed in. One of the finished rods is a Fenwick Lunkerstik, PLC60. It's a 2 piece rod, in very good condition, brown in color with brown thread wraps and white trim rings. The thread is obviously NCP. The guides are all metal, no ceramic insert and the first guide from the tip top is broken. The rod also had no handle. The guide will be an easy fix, and obviously I would like to replace it with the exact same kind of guide and use the correct thread colors when I replace the broken guide. Would appreciate any help with matching the metal guide with the proper replacement and the correct shade of brown NCP thread. There is a white trim ring on the thread wraps that will be no problem matching. Fortunately I found a new, never used, Lunkerstik casting handle that accepts the unique metal tapered ferrel on the base of the rod.

In addition to the above, it appears the stickers were applied with no varnish or epoxy over them and the one that contains the specs of the rod is beginning to peel up on one edge. Would appreciate suggestions regarding how I repair this without harming the intrinisic value of this vintage rod.

I can't tell if the thread wraps are covered with varnish or epoxy. I'm pretty sure epoxy was around in the 70's, but the coating is so thin on these thread wraps it could be varnish. On the other hand, it does not appear to have discolored the way I would expect varnish to have done over these many years, so maybe it is epoxy. Whatever they used on these thread wraps, it was applied in a very thin coating. So thin you can run your fingernail over the thread wraps and feel the thread. Appreciate any assistance with the above as well as advice on whether to use varnish or epoxy to duplicate the original.

The thread used on the Fenwick lunkerstik was Gudebrod NCP chestnut brown 5274 (aka fenwick brown). I am not quite sure but I think they used mildrum guides. I know I have a 1 oz spool of Gudebrod 5274 NCP size D, since I have not used it in 30 yrs you can have it if you want it. Not sure but I may have some old mildrum guides hiding some where in my shop, if I can find them you can also have them.
Norm



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/02/2017 11:35PM by Norman Miller.

the guides were either Mildrum or Allen depending in what serious blank as there were changes made as they were going through several take overs until ST. Croix finally took over back in the 90's

The best day to be alive is always tomorrow !!
Think out side the box when all else fails !!!
Wi.

As Matthew said,the earlier series used Mildrum Carbaloy guides. In later years I believe they transitioned to Fuji chrome framed aluminum oxides.
If they are the carbaloy guides, I have some of the smaller ones that were used. I even have a carded set with the Fenwick logo. If you like,I could send you one of the small guides.

Thank you all for you assistance and gracious offers. I replied to Norman via e-mail. Chuck, I would appreciate the guide you mention. How can we correspond so you can get my mailing address?

Eric, you can reach me at foremax@msn.com