Prices of vintage rods vs vintage reels

[festus]

Is it just me or is it very much more difficult to find a good vintage rod in mint shape on eBay without paying an arm and a leg?  There always seem to be good deals on reels, but not rods. 

[Gfish]

It is difficult, for me anyway. Also, beware a less expensive ones, that don't talk about any damage such as broken guides, etc.

[1badf350]

I think rods just tend to get beat up more than reels do. Plus you can replace most parts on a reel easily.

[oc1]

Rods are more difficult to store than reels.  This affects price in two ways.  Because of the storage/display problem there are fewer old rod collectors than old reel collectors; except for the vintage fly rod guys and big game rod guys like John.  This brings the price down.  But, the rods had to sit in a garage or attic somewhere to become vintage and since they are difficult to store they get beat and discarded first.  This makes them more scarce and drives the price up. 

A lot of the nice looking rods seem to have been rebuilt or restored.  Original and mint may more difficult.  Separating the rebuilt/restored from the original/mint using auction pictures is tough for me.  Maybe you need to handle a bunch of both to tell the difference.  What kind are you looking for Festus?
-steve

[festus]

Steve, either a 5' to 5-1/2' ultralight or a 6' to 7' medium Shakespeare Wonderod spinning, white in color with maroon trim.

[Decker]

I look for rods on ebay, but have bought few.  It is hard to tell the condition from a few pictures.  Many don't have specs listed.  Shipping is expensive too.   

Festus, I think you'd have better luck posting here in "Want to buy, borrow, or trade," where some AT member may have what you want.  http://alantani.com/index.php?board=42.0  Also flea markets.   

[sharkman]

Fetus not sure where you live but there was a wonderod on offer up tampa bay fl area. I think you get combo for 25 dollars.

[droppedit]

It's hard to find a rod that has only been used a few times in perfect shape. They are out there and most of the time they bring big bucks. There are a lot of good rods out there that can be restored. Old thread is still available and even vintage seats and guides. It all depends on what your looking for. Will it be used or are you keeping it for an investment? It is not a very hard job to restore and I've seen a number of people that did their 1st project that came out remarkably well. Most finds are from tag sales / estate sales but you have to go early and know what your looking for. Good luck to you and if your interested in any restoration shoot me a pm.

Dave

[happyhooker]

I look for rods on ebay, but have bought few.  It is hard to tell the condition from a few pictures.  Many don't have specs listed.  Shipping is expensive too.   

...

The expensive shipping is a killer, but I think, in some cases, not warranted.  Triangular, sturdy, long shipping boxes are encouraged by USPS (I'm not sure--they may even have them for free or modest cost) and the actual postage is comparable to more regular sized packages.

Frank

[Gfish]

The Shakespeare Wonderods were pertty popular. Maybe you'll have to be patient. My brother's got one just like you're describing, EXCEPT it's a 6' saltwater Wonderod, white with red thread.

[1badf350]

Depending on the rod and purchase price i wouldnt trust USPS to ship anything thats not in a strong PVC tube. They broke a mint vintage Garcia Conolon 10' surf rod i bought. Whats worse, it they broke an early Tycoon Tackle Regal rod my buddy had bought. That was heartbreaking

[droppedit]

I ship all my rods in pvc pipe. For the rods with larger guides I use 4" drain pipe which costs around $9.00 at the depot for a 10" length. I always ship FedEx and declare the value of the rod + shipping for insurance and also require a signature. Total runs around $30.00. I've had boxes with a piece of 1 X 3 crushed and snapped from various suppliers but so far have never had problems with the tubing. I'd request it if buying a valuable rod from ebay or anywhere else, it would save a lot of disappointment.


Dave

[Swami805]

They like the triangular tubes because they don't roll around. I use pvc too and have been lucky with USPS so far. They only time they lost something of mine was a cashiers check for 50K I sent registered over night to our bank for our mortage once. The most important thing I've ever mailed.
Vintage rods don't hold up to time like reels because some of the materials degrade. They take up more space too. You can throw a reel in a drawer and forget about it, Harder to store a rod.
Nice thing about rod hunting garage sales you can just slow the car as you drive by, if they got them,you'll see them.

[Gfish]

On the reel side a things, I really wanted one offa e-bay awhile back, but decided not to buy 'cause it talk about a "flat-rate ENVELOPE" for shipping. I've only gotten one shipped like that before I was hip to this, and it wasn't damaged, but it surprised me. Got one Triangle boxed rod shipped to me with a nasty gouge in it, couldn't tell for certain, but the broken guide probably existed already...

[Decker]

On the reel side a things, I really wanted one offa e-bay awhile back, but decided not to buy 'cause it talk about a "flat-rate ENVELOPE" for shipping. I've only gotten one shipped like that before I was hip to this, and it wasn't damaged, but it surprised me. Got one Triangle boxed rod shipped to me with a nasty gouge in it, couldn't tell for certain, but the broken guide probably existed already...

Recently I received a reel in a box that had been stuffed into a "flat rate envelope," which was fine.  It could be a good USPS loophole for a smaller box.