As a hobbiest never happy with my wraps, and macro lenses are the devil's tool. I've never liked anything I've photographed. But today I was on a rod manufacturer's site and saw wraps worse than the first wraps I taught my friend to do. Religiously. All over the site. They weren't even packed or burnished. I was shocked. But I also feel slightly better. They did have nice epoxy, though.

jontobey@yahoo.com
www.gointothelight.wordpress.com

Jon

FYI, some manufacturers out source wrapping to independent contractors. That's not an excuse for the poor wraps. It does speak directly to the manufacturer's quality control, and makes you wonder what in the world the manufacturer's marketing folks were thinking to publish pictures of less than quality work.

The average fisherman is never going to look at the wraps and attention to overall detail the way that a good custom rod builder does.

............

Most rod companies use outwrappers, I've been outwrapping for a lot of years and different companies have different standards, but they all have the same problem, it's hard to get quality workers to work for the low pay. It's piece work, the faster you wrap the more money you make. When you are starting out it is hard to even make minimun wage and once you get good it's still low pay. High quality work takes longer and you don't get paid more for it. You get paid the same for wrapping a hundred dollar rod as you get for wrapping a thousand dollar rod. A custom builder may take hours to wrap a rod where an outwrapper will do three or four rods in an hour. So the highest quality from a factory rod, not very often.

it,s not just factory rods, it,s so called custom rods too..i,ve seen the same thing in tackle shops that have custom rods built by someone locally..Tom,s right, very few people look and lots of builders know it.

Donald, yeah, super high macro images, almost like they were highlighting the flaws.

Jon, If you want to see professionally photographed rods with workmanship as near perfection we are likely to ever see, send me an e-mail.

Will do!

Jon, I'd like to see the rods mentioned in your original post. Can you help me out?

I wish it was easier to post images here. I don't want to put a link up as that seems bad form. I'll email you.
Lynn, your email is hidden. Please email me if you would like a link.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/19/2017 03:48PM by jon tobey.

Jon, I've unhidden my E-mail.

Lynn,
Links sent, what do you think?

I wouldn't have the nerve to charge someone for such work .

I wouldn't have the nerve to give it away.

I believe this is why we build rods. Motivation for the soul.

I had a conversation with my son (age 26) and if you've visited the site you'll notice that while the workmanship on the rods is poor, the website itself is very attractive. My son says this is what sells, and younger shoppers can get a rod for around $260.00 by clicking "add to cart" and moving on. He says the average person isn't looking at the product from a rodbuilders standpoint. They might sell a lot of rods. Lets say someone who typically doesn't buy rods wants to give one as a gift. Both buyer and recipient may think it's the best rod they could have gotten. As the recipient you may think differently but you better not sit there and @#$%& about it! I'm running off at the mouth again, Happy Holidays.

I work in software, and everywhere is the same: the lack of craftsmanship. If you want a $200 Rod, TFO and Allen make great rods with high craftsmanship. I bought an Allen rod, reel, line, and case for $150 that is an amazing set up. Therefore, if you are going to go "custom" with your rods, craftsmanship seems implicit. But like so many things blanks have moved from the specialized realm to the democratized realm and with the rise in quantity, quality seems to have fallen. A woman fly fisher friend of mine was showing me all of these sites by women for women. Rods with very intriguing color schemes. Until you look closely. Then the quality is low. I will go way out on a generalization limb her and say that women have long paid premiums for style and its just a shame that the manufacturers are taking advantage of that without also packing in the last little bit it takes to pack a wrap or do an inlay correctly.

Your average Wally World rod has better wraps than the subject rods.

a nice thick glossy coat of epoxy covers all that stuff anyway..lol.

What?! It doesn't cover gaps and bad packing. It does work great on dark backgrouds.