I originally posted this in the Bass Forum, to show some of the guys what goes into the type of rods that they fish.
I am building a rod for the SBK (Seal Beach Kid), so I thought it might be interesting for some to post up what goes into the process, from start to finish.
I was talking to Justin on the phone the other day about "Project N", and we got to talking about swimbait rods. I know he has some fine ones made by my cousin Marc Higashi, but he remarked that it would be cool to have a total deathstick swimbait rod, that he could fish anything with from plastics to hard baits. Something a little shorter--7 feet or so, for fishing the man style 65 lb. braid with an ultra short topshot of fluoro.
I began taking notes, which you can see above; the only thing I can decipher is that he wanted army green and burgandy...
I sent him a jpeg of the thread, and I have a cool airbrushed snake skin pattern reel seat that matches the burgundy main color.
Anyhoo, this blank is a proto type that never went into production for us--a little over seven feet two inches, and has a somewhat gritty titanium powder coating for a finish.
I made a similar one for Photo G, and he seemed to like it.
Before you put any parts on a blank, you check it for integrity (strength), and straightness.
Then the blank is splined--most blanks have two, or three splines, and it is important to pick the correct one, and then mark it with a white china (not China White) marker.
Justin mentioned that he wanted a very non-slip grip, and I was going to just put some X-Rubber over the EVA grips, but decided to hand turn some of this "faux cork" hard type EVA. This is synthetic, not real cork, and by grooving it, it will provide a good grip even when moist (wet).
I turn this on a rod lath at about 4,000 rpm--the diamond bit cuts cleanly through the material, providing sharp, clean lines.
Next, I wrap three color of threads in the separate grip area, then coat with epoxy, with a little apricot swimbait glitter for contrast.
....next you take some 80 lb. mono line...
In natural light, or even with a flash, it really lights up.
The grip is then fine sanded, and hit with 99% acetone to make the surface of the eVa perfectly smooth.
The white mark is the spline of the rod...you need to make sure that the trigger is on exactly the same axis as this mark.
Before the epoxy completely set up, I check the spline, and reel seat several times to make sure nothing has shifted.
I turn my grips from stock that is larger diameter than my reel seats--then final sand to make sure that the edge of the reel seat, and the EVA grip fit perfectly. I hate using a rod that has a "lip" or gap between the grip and the reel seat, and it just looks sloppy if it does not match up.
This is a Fuji reels seat "front ring", which is mostly for decoration, but serves as a buffer between the reel seat threads and the front fore grip.
The front grip is cut to four inches, as that is what my notes said that Justin wanted.
I think.
I glued on the fore grip, and decided to use a gun metal colored wind check, instead of the silver one I was planning to.
These can be fitted by making an underwrap of thread, then sliding the windcheck down over the thread.
On goes the army thread, and over goes the windcheck.
And all fits snug.
I don't have a Radio Silence logo printed out yet, but I have used this printed out one on regular paper to see how everything "works".
The pink thread wrap is part of a Tiger Wrap that I am making from the front grip, all the way to the stripper (guide closest to the reel).
The pink thread is the "sacrificial thread" of a Tiger Wrap, and is pulled off, and thrown away later.
This is not coated yet, and will look better with a couple of coats of rod finish.
The total handle assembly, san butt cap.
The butt cap is the last thing I put on my rods, as I usually use anodized aluminum ones, and they tend to get scratched in my rod lathe.
Building rods for a while now in Japan, I have got a reputation.
Not a good one, though.
People like to say this about my custome rods:
"
Yeah, Capt. G's custom rods--you can find a much better rod, but you can't find a more expensive one".
Still a long way to go,
I will post up the future progress.
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