I caught this Zebco rod years ago while fishing with my old neighbor. He informed me our other neighbor had it pulled off that dock years earlier. That neighbor had already passed on when I retrieved his rod. FF 35 years I kept the rod for sentimental reasons now that both neighbors have passed, it's missing a guide & needs some new cork on the handle. It looks alot like the rod on the old 33 boxes? I was gifted a 57' 33 by a member & thought about Restoring this rod for that reel if I could get a good photo to go by. Looks like foil under the silk colored wrap?
yeah, foil tape. you can get it from rod building sites, but I'd just underwrap with gold thread.
I'd replace the guide and leave the rest of it alone to preserve the lost-at-sea provenance. Does the reel seat still work?
You could grind down some cork, with the kitchen, veg stable grinder, that should win you a smooge from your lovely lady, mix it with wood filler, then fill all the rough places in the cork, sand it down, till its smooth, then give it 1 coat of thread binder, good luck cheers Don.
Steve,reel seat works.
Another question,when shopping for guides,should I measure the next guide up & order the next larger size.Appears to be all SS?
likely chrome plate brass or SS. going up in size is your preference. I might use thread varnish vs epoxy for period correctness.
The original thread looks white/brown. Guides are pretty thick. You can replace the rod on these handles as needed.Looks like someone wrapped this guide with mono.
You can get gold or silver metallic thread at Wally world that's good for this.
Jason,
I was looking at some tiger wrap at mudhole, is that Walmart thread in the sewing section? Also, I think I will fill in the cork handle voids like Donny suggested. I have scrap cork from handles I have replaced. Google images shows the rod had a 1" tapered black plastic butt cap as well?
what size butt cap = 1" ID ?
25mm?
Tiger wrap might be the closest reasonable option. I've seen old gudebrod thread that looks like that. But that stuff is fancy, and I'm not sure zebco was using it for a budget rod. But look at gudebrod thread on eBay, you might find something closer.
I have a bunch of gudebrod multi colored thread if you need some. See if you can find what the original color was, I probably have it. I also have the gold film if you need that too. I look and see if I have some of those guides when I get home from work
I found some ProWrap Metallic Twist 100YD Spool 807G White & Gold that I like. These guys mostly fished for bluegill off the dock, so I got some solid gold bluegill decals to accent it a bit. I haven't found any silver foil tape yet, mudhole had some silver with design too modern looking. Swami I found a SS guide that looks similar in size 12 but if you have original that's better. The original thread is white with a brown twist, if you have any Gudebrod thread similar that's great. I wanna try find the silver rod tape to stay close to original. All the rod specs markings are long gone, so I am gonna put the bluegill decals where they used to be.
Why don't you just use foil face HVAC tape? It's cheap, plus what's left can be used for other things. Most of it will be covered by thread.
I got some aluminum tape somewheres ::) but it's kinda thick what I have.
Quote from: jgp12000 on November 18, 2024, 05:58:23 PMI wanna try find the silver rod tape to stay close to original
My wife has a Cricut and she has many different rolls of adhesive backed vinyl and foil. She's has silver and gold foil and many variations of colors and sparkly colored vinyl. I've been know to borrow some of her supplies every now and then.
I once had her create some gold-lettering to restore a baseball plaque for my father's Roberto Clemente baseball card display.
I believe Walmart, Michaels and Hobby Lobby has Cricut supplies in stock, so you might shop one of them for silver foil. Or purchase it online from Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/VViViD-Chrome-Permanent-Adhesive-Silhouette/dp/B0711HK33N?crid=2K5TL2IDNMDG&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ncdvoOeXwftj8xlE5C5fR6ODsDJANFDMH4SCU8wgcne67QNLjdIcWjcbFO9MlU52e8Fs3A2WmG5uKkKq9WLDS0OsTJzqBPxP4fYYfRwts4fu6hgjkLjtXVxSCfFPrTjlXJzLQge-maJ4fQeodfUMa6QGpbq7bhdPTnmIOcOEDCZQwIVooe6DiQmbC8xuQWj4gFBip5K5v2uWLJDjPG3qQwqyLds8u0LBA5Fq4_LM4p_s3TUF1Nxz9wP1lBRHYKtvJ634esGzDaBNXO1u9ZKado69qj3PI2ZAL4L4hpKz8ME.1t-AQ5Ee77UfDeFermNTCHknP0MOaktPRG2asYFHJTA&dib_tag=se&keywords=cricut%2Bsilver%2Bfoil&qid=1731964128&s=arts-crafts&sprefix=cricut%2Bsilver%2Bfoil%2Carts-crafts%2C193&sr=1-3&th=1).
This is what the handle looks like NOS. I just need a 1" or 25mm butt cap
I have a rod something like the one depicted.
If you are looking for foil underwrap, the HVAC tape is certainly an option; an even cheaper but no less effective alternative that I have used successfully is to cut out a piece of a potato chip bag that has the silver color on the inside. Wipe the oil off, of course.
Should there be a need for a small quantity of striped thread, just get a thread that is the same base color as the thread you need, then use a Sharpie or similar permanent marker in the color you wish to make dashed lines on the thread as you wrap the guide. I did this with offwhite thread and a black marker on a rod I re-wrapped a couple of years ago & it worked almost perfectly.
Frank
Checked my variegated thread, here's what I have, if any of this will work let me know
Swami, I think the thread ordered might be a better match with the gold bluegill decals, but thanks fer looking. Good idea Frank.
Learnt something,called washi tape ::) looks perfect never heard of it :P
Well it looks better than it did. My primitive equipment & rookie know-how. Bottom half done except for some tweaking taking a break :fish.
I left the last original guide as is, to keep some "provenance" as Steve suggested. I had a scrap piece of cork the right length for the handle. I am stringing the 57' Zebco 33 up with line & gonna try to catch a fish.
Looks real nice. No AR on those. Got the clicker and drag, though.
Yep I figured with mucho drag & bait alert on it will help having no AR.
Went in the basement and found that old rod I had mentioned in an earlier post. It is a Zebco, Model 3600 to be exact. This rod was listed in the 1970 Zebco catalog as "new for '70". Specs mention medium action, 6ft., 2-piece, fiberglass with "select specie" cork grips. Came with 3 chrome-plated guides plus the tip. Could get the rod alone, or in a combo with a Zebco 600 Lexan reel spooled with 8 lb. test. By the 1972 catalog, it was gone.
Not sure where I got this rod. It had a white/green Zebco 404 reel on it that was so packed with hardened grease I thought at first it was broken (a later cleanup restored it to working order). The tip section was unusable. Thread wraps were off-white with black variegation, over chrome-colored Mylar, well worn. Three guides on a 6-foot rod didn't impress me. Rebuilt it with 5 all metal guides and a replacement tip section, and since the tiptop takes a lot of wear from the line passing through it, I put a ceramic insert tip on. Re-wrapped thread mounting and trim with my "potato chip bag" chrome Mylar with off-white thread hand striped with black Sharpie to make a variegation.
As rebuilt, the rod is a tad shorter than the original, and I find the rod more suited to medium light use (panfish, small walleye, etc.) Ended up mounting an old Johnson Century 225 reel on it; this reel had most of the front foot broken off, so I rigged a new reel mount that would firmly grasp the stub of the front foot that was left. Yes, I know the Johnson fans would consider this a sacrilege, but Johnson rods of that era are few and far between, so.... It has turned out to be a handy crappie rod & reel combo, so I guess it was worth the effort.
Frank
I have one of those rods. Look's like James's with a slightly shorter cork handle. The action is too parabolic for me, I-like a little snap back after loading the rod during casting. Not an origin/brand, etc., mark anywhere on that thing.
Gregg,I caught a shellcracker with it yesterday it has a good fiberglass feel, Pretty stout. I like the thread Frank! I bought that handle in the earlier photo (next to the ruler) & might build a new graphite rod for it with the old school look, one day.
This is the kinda bream I would catch with my neighbors,the rod owner neighbor would just laugh everytime he caught one :fish