On 3 Mar 2007 12:12:59 -0800, "Ethan" wrote:


If my wife found out how much...
She would probably have me committed.
I am having a hard enough time trying to convince her of my need for another
mandolin and fiddle.
Fred


Hey Fred, I just finished Casting a Spell too, and I really dug it. I
wasn't sure how exciting a whole book on the history on bamboo would
be but it was a good read for sure. Very informative, the best part is
gives a nice narrative around the different builders, so now when you
look at the Boo catalogs, and dealers, I feel like I have some idea of
who and what each rod REALLY means. Which is a lot better than not
knowing.

But I think Bamboo is fairly affordable compared to a mandolin. Custom
Bamboo rods can be had from a bunch of smaller builder in $1000,

Perfectly fishable South Bends, Montagues, H-Is, etc. can be easily and
readily had for under 500USD - typically $200-300.00 and even less with
some shopping and luck. And it would likely be a more
economically-neutral purchase than spending 1000.00-plus from a
relatively unknown maker - IOW, if you decided bamboo wasn't for you,
you'd likely be able to get all or most of your money back out. Not so
with most customs from "small" makers. If you are interested in doing a
little work, you can find lots well under 200.00.

rage
but you can't touch a custom mando for less than $2000. High end
colectable mint condition rods from the the best makers in the best
eras, are probably still under $10,000 for the most part.

There are VERY few $10,000.00 bamboo rods. I have quite a collection of
rods, from both Paynes, Garrison, etc., and no single rod is worth that
solely as a rod (i.e., without any provenance). In fact, even if one
simply wanted to spend that, they would be hard-pressed to do so, and
chances are it would be a rod better suited to a museum than a stream.

TC,
R

But Gibson
Loars are in the $150,000 range. Sadly I know people who actually
collect loars, but not Boo...