"Stan Gula" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
SNIP
I remember you telling me that story. The question I have is whether it
was
actualy being shipped to and sold by the 'famous maker' or was intended
for
the knockoff market (like the $10 'Rolex' watches you can buy in any
street
corner in NYC).
--
Stan Gula
http://gula.org/roffswaps
Canīt comment on Frankīs rod, it may well be a "knock-off" as you suggest,
although this is actually unlikely. The rods in my possession, the reels,
etc, and others I have seen, were produced specifically for the
manufacturers whose logo they bear. I know this to be true, and I had quite
a number of interesting discussions and correspondence about it with three
separate "East" manufacturers.
At the time I was still haggling with them about the price of screening my
own logo etc on the rods they were going to produce for me, and also about
the "hardware" type and quality. I wanted fuji cermets single leg
stand-offs, fuji up-lock seats, special corks ( reel seat saddles), and
similar stuff, and they spent a lot of time and effort trying to convince me
otherwise ( the top quality hardware at least doubled, and in a couple of
cases tripled the ex-factory price of the rods). Quite a lot of e-mail,
various photos, and actual samples changed hands. These were not
"knock-offs", but specifically produced for the companies in question.
My final decision to quit, was actually made after it became clear that I
would have to simply give them my mandrels and specs, thus losing virtually
all control over the manufacturing process. The mandrels have since been
destroyed in any case, as the money I was offered for them by a couple of
firms, was little more than a bad joke.
TL
MC