Fenwick 80lb IGFA- question for Sal

thorhammer · October 19, 2015, 02:23:09 PM

A bit back I had tried to describe this strangely set up Fenwick to Sal to get a possible vintage. I now have some pics. It's a 6'9" IGFA Fenglas 80 lb with xl Aftco guides, which clearly puts it in chair rod territory and predates modern stand-up design in any case. the head scratcher is WHY this full-size rod would be built with a 10" foam rear grip and plastic gimbal. In the last pic I parked a period-correct first gen Int 80 on it and you clearly see this outfit is unbalanced, not to mention a foam butt on this rig would wear quickly. I questioned whether the rod had been modified but the rear grip matches fore perfectly and has the Fenwick seat; the plastic gimbal could have been added but certainly not from wearing out an aluminum as the rod is in great shape.

I was considering re-fitting with aluminum swaged butt but if this is the original configuration I don't want to alter it. Anyone got a thought on this one?

T

thorhammer · October 19, 2015, 02:24:16 PM

rest of pics

Alto Mare · October 19, 2015, 10:49:42 PM

That is an early 1980 Fenrod, all looks original, except the plastic gimbal that you're talking about. I have never seen a plastic gimbal on one of those.
I can't answer why they chose foam for the rear grip, but I could tell you that it is one tough rod.
Here are a few pics of mine, the ones in the middle are just like yours, but again, no plastic gimbal.
http://alantani.com/index.php?topic=2493.msg14474#msg14474

Stupid question, but did you remove the cover on that gimbal?

thorhammer · October 19, 2015, 11:18:48 PM

Thanks, Sal!! I never get tired of looking your pics; that's what led me to you on this subject in the first place. Your 50's are set up the way my 80 is, where I would have expected mine to have Al butt. I did pull the cap; it's all nylon and does not appear to be a replacement. I love the rod, it's a horse and I wish I had a matched set. An old fishing buddy sold it to me for $200. Oh, and it came with a 14/0.

.

I'm gonna leave it as-is given it's condition.

Alto Mare · October 19, 2015, 11:25:13 PM

Thor, how do you find these deals?...very nice.

xiphias · October 20, 2015, 02:15:18 AM

I got a bunch of these rods in 90 or 91. Like a dozen or more. They came out of a "pile" in the back yard of a Fenwick rod designer. I'm pretty sure they were experimentals as they were set-up to be used with Uni-Butts (for testing most likely). I'm not sure if they were ever sold that way. Same color guide wraps with that brittle coating Fenwick used at the time that would crackle and pop when the rod was flexed. Only some had the decorative diamond wraps and the model and line classes were printed, not hand written as was common with other rods I got from him. A few lighter class rods (down to #8 & #12 noodles) were set-up with the blank through the handle like yours, but as I remember they had awful brown hypalon instead of black. It might have been what they had around. I was offered the rods so I could harvest the Aftco rollers and tips, and many of the guides are still on my Calstar and Sabre rods today. The heaviest rods I got were #50's and they had the light 2-3-4 guides with a heavy stripper. It was the first time I had seen that. My 6-1/2' #30 and #50 custom trolling rods have the same guides which work and look great with 7 rollers instead of 5 or 6. I do remember the plastic gimbals, but figured they just used them for testing. I never fished any of them as I didn't have or use butts, and the light ones were just silly.

Tightlines667 · October 20, 2015, 03:35:19 AM

I seem to recall my dad having one of these early Fenwick with the brown diamond wraps in like a 16 IGFA class. I believe it was fully rollered with AFTCO guides, and either had a wood butt with metal gimbal or an early AFTCO unibutt. I think he got the rod in the early 1980s as a group from a fishing buddy of his brother's who happened to work at the factory. He used to get bunches of factory rejects for free, and somehow we ended up with one. It was paired with an International 16 and I used it to catch a line class world record Wahoo at the age of 10. Cool rods. Maybe I can find a picture showing the butt.

UKChris · October 21, 2015, 12:53:26 PM

I recently bought one of these chair rods by Fenwick in 130 class and I remember when they were introduced to replace the earlier all-brown glass chair rods with Mildrum rollers (I have a 130 of those too - the exact rod from Jaws, though not the actual rod from the film).

All of these Fenwick white glass rods that I saw had brown hyperlon foregrips and Aftco Big Foot rollers on the 80 and 130 class rods with that nice diamond wrap with different brown, black and orange wraps.

All of the rods I saw had Aftco butts - all were silver then - no black or gold - and Varmac chromed brass reel seats as they were produced before the all-in-one Unibutt appeared. Most had straight butts but a curved butt was available for extra cost on the heavier classes. Curved butts were not so common then and considered a bit of a novelty. The 130 had a Varmac RS6H and the 80 had a Varmac RS5H reel seat.

I can only guess that the black male counter was a replacement fitting and something had happened to the original Varmac one. I do not think the black butt and reel seat is contemporary with the tip. Certainly, trying to pull a foam-coated butt out of a rod holder when a big marlin was tearing off line under strike drag would be a nightmare!

Just an edit to add mine is probably a bit older than Sal's lovely example 'cos his white Fenwick has a proper curved Unibutt.

I do have a stainless straight butt (not alloy) with Varmac reel seat on my brown Fenwick 130. Those were used to replace the original wooden butts and before Fenwick moved to the Aftco alloy ones so in that case my brown one is probably a bit newer than Sal's example.

Out of curiosity, I have aquired a solid alloy curved butt with a Varmac RS5H that is a very heavy piece of kit but I do not know what rod it might have been used on originally.

I never saw an Unlimited class Fenwick, though I have one by Harnell.

These rods still work very well!

thorhammer · October 21, 2015, 01:06:45 PM

Agree, all points. I also recently acquired two older 50 lbs sticks for $30 each that have that have the Varmac seats with swaged butt insert; Sal indicates 1970's vintage predating unibutts. So again, why would my 80 have hypalon and 50's have aluminum? No logic there, but I'm going to leave the 80 intact. The 50 wraps are in bad shape and I am going to fully rewrap with new Aftco HD's. The Fenwick label is intact so I'm going to TRY to restore them with the correct wraps. I expect they used Gudebrod thread, no longer available, so I will have to match as best possible. Not sure I can replicate the diamond as I wrap free hand without a wrapper but I'm going to give it a shot. If not, they'll get Thorhammer black, red, and gold.

I have one of the Harnell unlimited's also; it was in bad shape and I'm slowly rebuilding it. Stuck on whether to rewrap the Mildrum's, which are in great shape, or update with new roller guides since it's not a restoration; all new cosmetics.

Thanks for all the inputs!

Alto Mare · October 21, 2015, 09:10:10 PM

Quote from: UKChris on October 21, 2015, 12:53:26 PM

Just an edit to add mine is probably a bit older than Sal's lovely example 'cos his white Fenwick has a proper curved Unibutt.

Hello Chris, I just want to mention that the 130 class FENNGLASS you see in the pic above, came to me with two butt, curved and straight.

Sal

thorhammer · October 21, 2015, 11:08:30 PM

Quote from: Alto Mare on October 19, 2015, 11:25:13 PM
Thor, how do you find these deals?...very nice.

Sal, my friends would say I can tell the difference between a BG40 and a 4500ss in a box at yard sale passing by at 40 mph lol. I do hit yard sales, pawn shops and the like as much as possible. The thrill of the hunt and acquiring a diamond in the rough is a huge part of it for me. Sometimes I come dry or lose but mostly win. I'll post a pic when I get home that is gonna make Dwight get an eye twitch lol. Being able to repair / restore gets me $10 st croix and Trevalla rods with cracked tips, $5 113's, etc. I figured out Penns years back but AT gives one the confidence to rebuild dang near anything with some drags and an AR spring. If I paid retail for all my crap my shop would be bigger and more expensive than house, earning some discussions with wife about my priorities....

thorhammer · October 22, 2015, 02:27:26 PM

Quote from: thorhammer on October 21, 2015, 01:06:45 PM
Agree, all points. I also recently acquired two older 50 lbs sticks for $30 each that have that have the Varmac seats with swaged butt insert; Sal indicates 1970's vintage predating unibutts. So again, why would my 80 have hypalon and 50's have aluminum? No logic there, but I'm going to leave the 80 intact. The 50 wraps are in bad shape and I am going to fully rewrap with new Aftco HD's. The Fenwick label is intact so I'm going to TRY to restore them with the correct wraps. I expect they used Gudebrod thread, no longer available, so I will have to match as best possible. Not sure I can replicate the diamond as I wrap free hand without a wrapper but I'm going to give it a shot. If not, they'll get Thorhammer black, red, and gold.

I have one of the Harnell unlimited's also; it was in bad shape and I'm slowly rebuilding it. Stuck on whether to rewrap the Mildrum's, which are in great shape, or update with new roller guides since it's not a restoration; all new cosmetics.

Thanks for all the inputs!

This restoration / rebuild is gonna take a bit of focus, as you can see. Winter project. Upon closer inspection the butts are SS, consistant with Sal'sdating.

thorhammer · October 22, 2015, 02:47:05 PM

Quote from: Tightlines666 on October 20, 2015, 03:35:19 AM
I seem to recall my dad having one of these early Fenwick with the brown diamond wraps in like a 16 IGFA class. I believe it was fully rollered with AFTCO guides, and either had a wood butt with metal gimbal or an early AFTCO unibutt. I think he got the rod in the early 1980s as a group from a fishing buddy of his brother's who happened to work at the factory. He used to get bunches of factory rejects for free, and somehow we ended up with one. It was paired with an International 16 and I used it to catch a line class world record Wahoo at the age of 10. Cool rods. Maybe I can find a picture showing the butt.

nice on the record!

xiphias · October 24, 2015, 11:21:43 PM

If you are interested in Gudebrod thread, let me know. I can spool some up and mail it. 221,207, and 524 I think?

fishgrain · October 31, 2015, 03:54:53 PM

only time i've seen / heard of a stand up butt / chair blade combo was for a specialized trolling application. ie dredge, planer, or some other type of creative use to drag something.

once had an 80 class fisher chair rod with a short UB2C - guy used it for pulling a large hook-less attractor contraption he made that created a lot of drag in the water