ID this rod OLD vintage solid glass rod

[steelfish]

hey guys

I guy left me some rods to repair and gave me this one, I dont know anything about it or found any brand on it, seems like solid glass since is pretty heavy.

do you recognize it or know if it worth the hassle to put new guides (maybe some pacbay twisted shockproof) and use it as loaer or give it as gift to one of my friends with charter

[oc1]

Man, that's a difficult one Alex.  There were a lot of solid glass rods like that in the early 1960's.  Trying to match the oak handle pattern to a rod with a name on it might be the only hope.  Mildrum guides I believe but that was sort of the norm back then.

Solid glass rods were maligned because they are heavier and do not have as much backbone as tubular glass.  I used to tell my mother that all the time to try to get her to upgrade.  Her favorite rod looked a lot like yours but with a smaller tip.  It was sort of funny because she was very particular about that rod and would never let anyone else use it.

[Cuttyhunker]

I'm with Steve on this one, a run of the mill "60's special" that had no under wrap, the basic reel seat with single not double reel nuts.  Twist the wood, with some oomph, fore and aft of the seat, it's not uncommon for the old glues to be giving up the ghost.  I go through a lot of them to sell off with old Long Beaches and the like.  Sometime if the guides are okay and all there I'll simply put a new wrap over the old leaving everything in place.  Out the door with a reel for maybe 40 bucks, good for another generation.  I brought a couple that were too ugly to sell, a little heavier than yours, but functionally fine to Florida for digging grouper out of the rocks.  It'll still fish.

[thorhammer]

true temper possibly, but as said there were a lot of those back then- I have a bunch of those in the attic. I think Fred has a couple hundred. With your skillzzzzz, you could sand and revarnish the handle, paint the blank, and do a simple new guide wrap easily. I wouldn't put more into it than that, but there's probably someone that needs a good rod for bottom bouncing and that would fish for many more years and might prize a refurbished old school rig.

[Wompus Cat]

American Fork and Hoe as well as Montague made Rods just like that and I think your Rod dates bake more than the 60's.
American Fork and Hoe became TRUE TEMPER and still is in Business although I don't know what names they use or if American Owned any more  and Montague became OCEAN CITY  and ain't no mo but kinda is under various names in the past 30  40 years . I THINK TRUE TEMPER Also owns it now or one of it's spin off company's .It is hard to keep up with it .

If you want to get rid of it as is I would be a buyer to put one of my old OC's on it .
It is definitely a KEEPER in my opinion.

[Cuttyhunker]

Dad fished Tru's from his charter bass boat and landed hundreds of bass and blues on them over the years, so the old style was "good enough".  He went to the Tru tempers because they were shorter by a foot over his better Varmac seated 7 footers.  The old time bass boats had big rudders and aft tillers for nimble handling on the tidal rips and around the boulder fields.  There were 2 aft facing fighting chairs for the parties.  If the angler got distracted the 7 footers were just long enough to smack dad on the side of his head.  Here's his old boat from the 60's, renamed, and still in service, and one of the old 7 footers with the Varmac's that I've kept over the years.

[thorhammer]

way cool!

[steelfish]

Twist the wood, with some oomph, fore and aft of the seat, it's not uncommon for the old glues to be giving up the ghost. 

now that you mentioned the reelseat is pretty lose on the bottom part, you can hear the wood crushing or something alike.


thanks guys, I will have it for when the repairs jobs let me work on it, that might be still some more time, but looks like something a charter will appreciate after looking how some customer treat the loaner rods.

[philaroman]

I have a much "lighter" (Salmon?) Redditch solid 9-footer w/ agat[e/ine?] guides & cork/mushroom
I'm thinking it could be remade into a nice troller, but way too heavy/bulky for rod-in-hand
definite drop in joy-of-use factor, if I had to hold/work that thing for hours

no question these old beasts can still catch beasts & should not be retired,
but if you're going to rebuild, turn it into a bait rod that sits in a holder

[day0ne]

That appears to be a two piece rod, separating at the top of the reel seat. This give you a lot more options, such as a Lakeland 2 piece reel seat and a different (maybe lighter) handle. The bend in the solid glass rods is also very easy on the back. I love fishing them.

[oc1]

Those heavy old oak handles help to balance the rod. 

[Cuttyhunker]

Steel,
The neatest way to re attach for me once separated, clean up the wood and seat then I apply a good dose of epoxy only to the inside of the seat, not a lot smooshes out onto the top of the seat on reassembly.

dayone,
It's a one piecer glued together for keeps, Higher end rods going back to say the Tycoon's or later the Harnell's were ferruled at the seat. There would be a knurled ring at the end of the seat, usually the rod end, but could be either end, that threaded into the removable part.  This one is a hardware store special lacking that and other upscale features. I still fish them, but like to use reels with rod clamps, and pay attention to the single screw seat.  They seem to outnumber reels by about 3 to 1 at the flea markets.

[jurelometer]

I am leaning toward True Temper myself.  I remember rental racks filled with hundreds of these in the  local NoCal bait shops in the 70s.  Rigged with a Long Beach and 30 lb mono, these were the party boat rental rods for salmon trolling, rockcod, live baiting stripers, etc.  No need for a full quiver of outfits back in the day.

Damn near impossible to break one, so there must be a ton of these still floating around the West Coast.  They probably were not all turned into tomato stakes.

-J

[thorhammer]

Alex, I know you, and you could whip on six new guides in the time it takes you to read this thread

[Cuttyhunker]

Here's an old Harnell list with the ferrules