this was a Factory Calstar GF700M, I found it for cheap on a local for sale post on the social media, it was cheap because almost all guides had the threads falling apart.
I bought it and did a complete torn down except for the buttcap and reelseat, I actually like that model of reelseat and it was in good shape so I left it there, I took all the original guides out and sanded almost half the size of both of the hypalon grips to put a shrink tube over it and installed new fuji guides, the first 3 guides from the reelseat are KW model and the rest are MN, not really a good reason for that mix of guide models, it was just because I like more the MN in smaller sizes than the KW ones, actually I ended up looking the final result of the guide train.
since this rod was used and abused, I rebuild it to be part of my own arsenal of rods, if it breaks in the 1st trip so be it, as someone of you know me, before getting into rebuilding this rod I did some lifting tests with different weights and it passed the QC, so the the latte it went.
I didnt touch the factory decal, just a fine wet sanding to put a new coat of epoxy over it.
before asking, yes, thats epoxy on both hoods of the reelseat, I small accident made me pour some epoxy on one of the reelseats hoods and it was a mess after trying to clean it, so, the next time of the rod on the drier I covered the mess with a light coat of epoxy ::)
on this one I tried to use "new" wrapping techniques or styles that I normally dont used on customer rods, as two different kinds of "olive branches" and "two and single thread trim bands", they're not perfect but I think I can start to use them on my nest builds, I know, another Mexican flag colors wrap, the idea of this rod is to use it as "show of" of my work.
sorry for the tons of pictures, I kinda liked this one :d
Man dat's NICE !
Very nice work! You put yourself into it.
You already knew I'd love it. Great job, as usual.
Looking good Alex, you got the olive branches lined up pretty good, that's the hard part. Nice clean lines
Excellent job at restoration of the beat up rod, really like your single and double thread inlays including the JTOB! You will really like that rod fishing 30lb.
Quote from: Swami805 on September 14, 2022, 09:13:27 PMLooking good Alex, you got the olive branches lined up pretty good, that's the hard part.
tell me about it, I never got it right at the 1st try.
Quote from: sabaman1 on September 15, 2022, 12:13:05 AMExcellent job at restoration of the beat up rod, really like your single and double thread inlays including the JTOB! You will really like that rod fishing 30lb.
thanks compadre, wrapping this rod I kinda had an idea why some rodbuilders charge good $$ for labor, it took me 2x or 3x or even more the time to wrap each guide than rods I was wrapping 2 years ago.
I like the action of the tip on this rod, looking forward to use it soon.
Nice work Alex, really brought that rod back to life, your not the only one that likes it, & we can really appreciate, your work after turning a couple of rod ourselves, great work. cheers Don.
Thanks Donny
I can also really appreciate the improvements on this last rods I've made over the ones I built 5 years ago.
its take a lot of time and trial and error to achieve, tho.