does anyone here on the board do rod repairing?? im looking to get some of my old rods some new guides, can anyone help??

talked to my husband said you might call texas unlimited and they might know. academy sports might also know. here in the humble area used to be one but not sure if he is still here

thanks eksda

I have been building rods since 1995. I build fly rods, spinning, and baitcasting rods. And I also do repair at minimal cost.

What question did you have?

My uncle is a very well known world renown rod builder so I learned from his style of rod building and he is the one that got me into rod building about when I graduated high school.

If it is guides you want to replace, yes I can do that at very minimal cost.

I use Size A Gudebrod rod wrapping thread to wrap guides. I can do single or two-color wraps, whatever you like. And I use color preserver and thread sealer on the wraps, no varnish or NCP thread. And when I do wraps I don't use a turning motor for the finish to dry. I turn all rods by hand. So this produces a finish that is very flush to the blank and the finish does not bubble out. Also I do not put any finish on the blank itself, only on the wraps. It just gives it a more professional and clean look and provides for very easy repair to replace a guide.

But as far as guides I can put any guides you like. For casting and spinning rods I use Fuji guides and I can put any you like on up to the Fuji titanium guides.

If you are near San Antonio, David Mata at Bass Pro rebuilds rods. He did some nice grip conversions (regular grip to splir grip)for me for $5.00 each.

thanks guys for the help..where are you located at AJ? i have 2 maybe rod that needs new guide, 2 baitcast and 1 spinner..i would like to use fuji guide for all of them, wats the total cost and the turn around time? thanks in advance!!!

If you are anywhere near Bryan/College Station, Tommy Nuche does great work. Click the link in my signature to get contact info.

thats kind of far for me shootisttx, im in houston..thanks for the info tho!!

Hi Tank, would you want all of the guides replaced on the rod? I am located in Austin, but I commute from Austin to the Houston area about once a week. And pretty soon I'll probably be going as well to do fishing.

Generally the time to put guides on a rod from start to when the wraps are fully dried would be a few days. Basically I need to file and shape the foot of the guides to proper specs, and then wrap the guides on. And then I put a few coats of color preserver and thread sealer and that takes time to dry. And then the final step is actually applying the finish on the wraps which can take 24-48 hours to dry propery. So we are only looking at 2-3 days.

It takes me the same time to do one rod as it would 4 or 5 rods since I work on rods at the same time and what takes most of the time when building or working on rods is just drying time for the epoxies and finishes on rods.

Usually if say I am working on a few rods while one is drying I am filing cork rings for another rod or shaping a handle or wrapping guides or doing something while another rod is drying.

Also there are different types of Fuji guides you can use. Hardloy are the least expensive which are just the basic Fuji guides. They come in black or stainless steel frame with Hardloy rings. Then you can get O rings which are a step better and they come in black or stainless steel frame. And then there are Alconite rings with a black frame. And also Silicon Carbide rings which are popular and they come in gunsmoke and gold frame. You can also get them in a titanium alloy frame. And then the top of the line are the Gold Cermet ring and titanium alloy frame guides. Those are super lightweight and are saltwater proof to any corrosion and the best you can get but very expensive.

And as far as colors for the wraps, I can do a lot of different colors as I have about 30 different color threads. Either one color or two-color wraps.

Contact FTU...Fishing Tackle Unlimited, in Houston...ask for Terry Jones...he will put you in touch with alot of rodbuilders in Houston area...
Or go to www.2coolfishing.com ...go to the rodbuilding section and ask your question...


ML..

thanks for the info aj, let me know when you are coming to houston next.

Fishing Tackle Unlimited in Houston on I-10 west,rod repair.

Sure no problem. I'll let you know before I go to Houston. I go pretty often since my cousin lives there and I have other family there. If I work on your rods I could pick them up on a weekend and maybe drop them off back to you the following weekend or something like that. Or when I am in Houston I can look at the rods and see what you want or would like on them.

I have most guides already. And I have titanium and SIC guides and the titanium/gold cermet ones I use on some of my high end rods. I use the SIC the most for most rods. Or you can purchase the guides yourself and I put them on or whatever is easier if you decide you want me to work on the rods.

When I wrap guides I only put finish on the thread itself. Most put finish on the blank as well but I apply the finish to the thread only to give it a real professional clean look and it makes it easier to replace a guide too. And before the finish is applied I use color preserver and thread sealer on the thread to make the color really stand out and preserve the color as well so the finish does not change the color. And it also prevents fishish from soaking into the thread and blank so again it makes it easier to replace a guide in the future.

And when I let the finish dry I hand turn the rods at certain time intervals. No drying motor. That's so that the finish dries very flush to the blank and there is no bubbling or concave look to the finish. Not a big deal but just little things I do and some of my little trade secrets since I am a perfectionist when it comes to building rods, hah hah.

But if you decide you want me to take a look at your rods when I go down there I can show you different guides and color threads. I usually do simple 2 color wraps. But I can pretty much do as many colors as you like.

And I charge a very minimal amount. Since I usually don't do a lot of rod repair and most of my time is building rods from filing cork rings and shaping the handle and wrapping the guides, etc. I do all handcrafted custom work on rods from scratch from start to finish. It's more of a hobby for me but I build rods for people by word of mouth and right now I have time and I am not too busy. I do fly rods, spinning, and baitcast. The only thing I don't really do is offshore rods but I can if requested.

And if you are ever interested in rod building or rod repair you can check out my uncle's videos or books too. His name is LA Garcia.

I know he has a rod building book and one on rod repair and I think he has videos as well in different languages since he is pretty popular all over the world for his rods.

But that's who I learned from, my uncle and he got me into rod building in 1995. But for me it is a hobby and not a full time business or anything and I only build rods for people by word of mouth.

It's pretty easy to build or repair rods. Nothing hard to it. Just takes patience and a good eye and careful to detail and time is all.

AJ,
I'm also in Houston. Let me know when you're in town. I have two Penn Pursuit spinning rods (I know they're worth nothing, but hate to throw them away). One needs two new guides; the another needs one new guide. We may not have to completely replace the guides since just the inserts (inside rings) that were broken off. I can send you some pics.

AJ, sounds like a good plan..im going over to my parents tonight and i will take a look how many of them need repair and i will take them back to my apt with me. when you get in town give me a call and we can meet up.

aj, whats the price difference between the sic and black frame black hardloy ring guides??

Hi Waltchess, I'll let you know when I am in Houston and repairing them would be no problem. Just cost a few bucks for the guides and I can repair it easily at no charge if it is just a few guides.

Hi Tank, prices vary on guides depending on the style of the guide and if they are one or two-foot guides and whether you need guides for a spinning or baitcast rod since with spinning rods they require larger guides within the set which cost more, especially when you get into the SIC guides and so forth where price differences are greater.

Basically when it comes to the rings you have in order of price and hardness and durability, Hardloy (Aluminum Oxide), Alconite, Silicone Carbide (SIC) and Silicone Nitrate for saltwater use, and Gold Cermet. Hardloy is the least expensive and Gold Cermet being the most expensive and hardest and smoothest material.

And for the frame you have either black anodized stainless steel or the polished shiny stainless steel frame or you can also get gold plated stainless steel. And then you have titanium frame guides which are more expensive and lighter weight than stainless steel. The titanium guides look like a frosted silver color.

Basically in the Hardloy they make 2-foot guides and 1-foot guides for spinning and 2-foot guides for baitcast that sit lower to the blank, but you can combine them or use the spinning guides on the baitcast rod to have a guide that sits higher on the blank. A set of say a 7 to 8-piece guide set for a spinning rod would run between $9 to $11 for a black anodized frame and Hardloy ring. For a baitcast rod if you go with 2-foot guides that sit lower than the spinning guides it would run about $5 to $7 for a set of 7 to 8 guides. If you want them with the shiny polished stainless steel frame it would be just a little more since most guides in black anodized or polished stainless steel are about the same price or maybe 10 cents more per guide in the polished so the price difference is not much. And the price is just a little higher because the polished ones are bought individually too instead of in sets that help save a little money.

If you want to go a step above Hardloy guides you can go with Alconite ring guides. In a 7 to 8-piece set for spinning we are looking at about $21 to $23 or so. In a polished stainless frame it's about $23 to $25. For baitacast we are looking at a 7 or 8-piece set of about $17 to $20 for the black frame and about $19 to $22 for the polished stainless. A little over double the price of Hardloy.

In SIC guides with a stainless frame, a 7 to 8-piece set for a spinning rod you are looking at about $42 to $45 or $45 to $58 for Concept SIC guides, just depends on which SIC guides you want in what sizes. For baitcast rods it's about $34 to $41 for a 7 to 8-piece set in SIC. If you want the Concept style SIC guides they would be about $39 to $46 for a 7 to 8-piece set.

And if you want SIC guide rings with a titanium frame they get more expensive. A 7 to 8-piece spinning set would run about $106 to $111. In Concept style ones it would be about the same price. For a 7 to 8-piece set for a baitcast rod it would be about $60 to $76.

And with the gold cermet ring and titanium frame guides which are top of the line and super light weight, those would run about $180 to $195 for a 7 to 8-piece set for a spinning rod. For a baitcast rod a set of 7 to 8 guides would run about $105 to $130. But these are the best guides you can get and are top of the line and super light weight and very strong and totally resistent to salt and the toughest braided lines. When you put these on a rod it's like they are not even there they are so light. But they are expensive.

If you are looking at just replacing guides and the most economical approach then Hardloy is the best bet and they are great guides for the price.

But those prices are just to give you an idea of price ranges for different guides and they are not exact but just to give you an estimate of about how much the guides would cost for spinning and baitcast rods.

And again if you buy the guides I'll put them on at no charge if it is just a few guides that need replacing. And to replace all the guides on the rod if say you just want to replace the guides you already have or upgrade then I would just charge a very minimal fee to put the guides on if you pay for the guides.

It would take me about 2-3 days to do an entire rod with new guides. Most of it is just drying time and shaping the foot of the guides properly before I put them on the blank. And it would take me the same time to do one rod or 2 or 3 rods.

i think im just gonna go with a 2 set of black frame hardloy guides for 2 rods, they are not expensive rods but need new guides..thanks for the info AJ.

Sure no problem. I'll message you.

Yeah Fuji Hardloy guides are great guides for the price and they last well. And if they break or get worn out or need replacing they are very inexpensive.

sorry i keep forget to mention what kind of the rod it is, they both are baitcasting rods, maybe i have a few spinner rods need new guides too. i will check on them this weekend before i head to seawolf park.

Sure no problem. Whatever rods you need guides on just let me know and when I go down to Houston I can take a look at them and see what you would like on them as far as guides and thread, etc. and if you want me to work on them I could take them with me on a weekend and work on them during the week and return them back to you on the following weekend or something. I go to Houston often and I plan to also go down there for fishing as well in the Galveston Bay area. Maybe I can meet you at Sea Wolf Park or something like that too. I'll message you in a bit.

AJ,
You turn your rods by hand to dry? Wow how long do you have turn them? I don't have the strength in my hands to turn them during drying. Sounds like a thorough method. Thanks,