Softhackle wrote:
A custom rod will be less expensive for the same
blank and components because the customer is not paying for a
warrenty.

For the last freeking time, neither you nor anyone else can point to
any impirical evidence that the advent of the unconditional life time
warrantied rods drove the cost up. The year when the major *premium*
rod makers added the unconditional warranty (either 1997 or 1998), the
prices either remained flat or did not increase any more than they been
increasing in the years prior. The only thing that changed was the
nature of the warranty on older rods, Sage retroactvely applied the
warranty, Winston offered some owners of certain rods an extended
warranty for a fee, Scott and T&T just applied to rods purchased from
that point forward.

A custom rod built by a qualified professional will absolutly cast
with
less effort and less friction simply because it will have ceramic
guides on it. Until the factory starts using ceramic guides their
rods
they will be inferior. A custom rod is fitted to the customer and
designed for a specific type of fishing and the customer can choose
any
layout he wants.

Of the last 10 rods I have purchased, seven have been custom made for
me. Some, but not all, had ceramic guides, and I personally cannot tell
the difference in their action but I can tell the difference in the
cosmetics. The only other difference is in the cork handle, my custom
rods generally have wider cork grips, which I believe to me more
comfortable after a day of fishing.

The factory isnt interested in any of these things and
certainly not quality they seem to be interested in quantity. They
dont
use the best glues, finish or components because they know the rod
will
be broken in a year or two and they'll have to replace it. And this
comes from a guy that is in love with his sage 490-4 LL, its damn
near
my best friend. But the rod has deteriorated so badly over the last
10
years that it needs to be stripped and refinished. The reel seat fell
off two years ago and I had to reglue it, the guides are all cracked
and water had rotted the threads.

Sorry, sounds to me like it was a rod that was not cared for. I've got
early model factory rods that don't have that problem becasue they are
dried before they get sealed in the tube if they got wet, cleaned
periodically, even waxed once a year. Every rod in my *collection*
including my cane rods were made to be fished and have been fished,
dropped in the stream, used to break falls, tangled in trees, etc. I
have been careful to avoid doors, but I have been known to drive off
with them on top of the vehicle, luckily none have been run over yet
when doing that.

These things dont happen with well
build custom's. So its not the pretty stuff that makes it custom its
the quality, cosmetics are secondary.

I would think if I did not care for the rods, even the custom rods
would suffer damage.

With all this being said the
thing that kills me is the rod blanks for any major company only cost
about 3 dollars to manufacture, 5 with labor.

If you are talking about mass produced imported blanks, maybe.
Otherwise you are seriously mistaken. I was part of an investor group
that tried to purchase one of the major rod makers in the late 90's. US
rolled blanks with US labor cost, the costs were higher than you
assert.

My buddy is a distributor
for serveral major midwest companys and if you only knew what he pays
for his stuff you would fall off your chair. So for myself I would
never pay more than 50.00 for a blank no matter how strait or perfect
the paint job, or how nice it bends.

Good for you.

Never in my wildest dreams did I
think I'd see the day when a graphite fly rod sold for 700.00 but
they
do and people actually think they are better then custom's because of
the price. It amazes me what advertising can do to a culture. I'll
give
you this the Winstons are pretty damn nice maybe even the best of the
factory rods but for 700.00 I could build myself 3 great rods.

I think there are too many reverse snobs who get hung up on what a rod
cost or does not. Especially in todays market. Some folks define good
in what a rod does or does not do in their hands, other define it in
terms of the fish handling ability, others in the appearance. Premium
rods, if one can afford them, are usually sold from specialized stores
and priced using a margin vs volume market philosophy. If you want a
factory winston, that's what they cost? Do I think a winston wt rod is
a better fishing rod than a TFO Ticr? Hell yes and not just because of
the price, do I think a Winston LT is a better fishing rod than a Sage
Discovery? hell no even if the cosmetics are better and it cost more.
It would be nice if rods had the same price point differences as does
imported hackle vs genetic hackle but it doesn't. And I don't think
I've ever seen anyone assert that an imported asian neck is "just as
good" as a Grade I Whiting neck.

I would hope as a builder you could build three rods with winston
blanks for the price of one factory rod. However if you were in the
business of making and selling rods as your sole source of income, I
guaran-damn-tee you that you would not be selling the rods for what
they *cost*. Otherwise you would not be making many rods for long or
you would starve.