Carp Rod question: Colour?

[lakhyaman]

Hello to everyone

Is it possible to buy full cork handled carp rods in any other colour than black, or is that definite cause to be stoned to death?

Essentially looking for through actioned carp rods with full cork handles in green, red, blue, any other colour than black/grey. 2.5 lb - 3lb test curve. Would certainly consider going to a custom maker if anyone would point me towards one. Willing to pay for the best.

Thanks for your help.

All the best

Lakhyaman

 

[Molehill]

When I used to build on Harrison's blanks, they would grind the blanks and colour them, a choice of colours and cost a few ££s extra, but the rods look very nice. Starting with a coloured blank gives more choice for whipping colours etc. and the overall effect is more personal, getting away from everything in black.

Probably have to go through a custom builder, and I'm guessing they still produce them on request.

 

[Molehill]

Here's some of mine from some years ago, all on coloured blanks though you can't see them very well.
I don't build anymore and the contact information is long out of date.
bfw reviews

 

[Ray Roberts]

Here's some of mine from some years ago, all on coloured blanks though you can't see them very well.
I don't build anymore and the contact information is long out of date.
bfw reviews

Not my cup of tea but stunning nonetheless. More than a few hours must have gone into their production.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[tigger]

Hello to everyone

Is it possible to buy full cork handled carp rods in any other colour than black, or is that definite cause to be stoned to death?

Essentially looking for through actioned carp rods with full cork handles in green, red, blue, any other colour than black/grey. 2.5 lb - 3lb test curve. Would certainly consider going to a custom maker if anyone would point me towards one. Willing to pay for the best.

Thanks for your help.

All the best

Lakhyaman

As Molehill says you might be as well contacting Harrisons in Liverpool, they only usually sell made up rods to shops and blanks to custom rod builders but they may deal directly with you....especially with you living so far away!

 

[lakhyaman]

Molehill

Stunning stuff. Just the sort of thing!

Could anyone recommend a rod builder with whom I could start a conversation?

Thanks for your interest.

All the best

Lakhyaman

 

[lakhyaman]

As Molehill says you might be as well contacting Harrisons in Liverpool, they only usually sell made up rods to shops and blanks to custom rod builders but they may deal directly with you....especially with you living so far away!

Tigger

I think our posts crossed. I have thought of contacting Harrison's but wondered if anyone has experience with a rod who they would recommend.

All the best

Lakhyaman

 

[tigger]

Tigger

I think our posts crossed. I have thought of contacting Harrison's but wondered if anyone has experience with a rod who they would recommend.

All the best

Lakhyaman

Lakhyaman, I know this fella and he's a really nice person. It might be worth you contacting him.....

Made to measure fishing rods - Wigan, Lancashire

 

[john step]

Hello to everyone

Is it possible to buy full cork handled carp rods in any other colour than black, or is that definite cause to be stoned to death?

Essentially looking for through actioned carp rods with full cork handles in green, red, blue, any other colour than black/grey. 2.5 lb - 3lb test curve. Would certainly consider going to a custom maker if anyone would point me towards one. Willing to pay for the best.

Thanks for your help.

All the best

Lakhyaman

I had never considered the colour aspect before. I googled custom built fishing rods UK and it came up with several specialist builders who all seemed to use a narrow selection of manufacturers blanks. Presumably as they are the quality blanks. I didn't notice any that were not a dark colour carbon.

I hope you manage to find a builder that can supply a coloured blank. It will be interesting to learn how you get on.

Best of luck with your quest.

 

[Molehill]

The dark colour is of course the natural colour of the carbon, so any change to this adds ££s to the cost and as colouring is usually for a one off order it is extra faffing about for the manufacturers.

Another reason (my opinion) is that dark/ black blank with the black whipping (and maybe a tag) is very easy to do, looks smart enough and importantly, hides a multitude of sins! Black whipping on a blackish rod does not show mistakes to most people, but as soon as you start messing with lighter colours or contrasting colours etc. any gaps or less than perfect work stand out more.

So factory finish rods will tend to stick with the easy option, but custom build you pay for the additional care the builder takes and you can choose.

 

[barbelboi]

with a rod who they would recommend.

It's depending on what the rod is going to be used for, Harrison's make over 100 different blanks. If you're not wanting to cast to the horizon, and want an incredibly good fish playing rod, the Harrison 2.75 Ballista slim is well worth a look.

 

[sam vimes]

Not that long ago, only custom rods wore matt finishes in black/grey and you did get a fair number of coloured blanks from the more mainstream brands. These days they are so far out of fashion that you've little chance of finding one. Same goes for high gloss rods. Black/grey and matt is where it's at with modern carp rods, whether you like it or not.

 

[tigger]

I think Harrisons do a range of colours/weaves on their rods depending on the blanks. The camera rods I got from them are a chequer type grey wrap pretty much identical to the Torrix blanks. I know a friend of mine wanted his torrix rods in red gloss so Harrison's did them in red gloss for him and they look great especially with the chequer weave. I chose to have gloss finishes on mine but you can choose whichever you fancy.
If you look at the link to Kingfisher rods you can see Mick has a few different coloured blanks on his books.

 

[Philip]

You could try contacting the Tacklebox at Dartford..they can usually handle custom requests over a range of rods and do mailorder so your location i dont think would be an issue..they did Harrison blanks too at least in the past..

 

[Nobby C (ACA)]

Mark Tunley does claret red. He used to do dark blue and green so maybe he can sort that out?
Chris Ward ( the rod doctor) sourced some colour varnish to refurb a couple of rods of mine.
I reckon a fair few could do it but as a start I'd contact Harrisons for their options. If you want a Harrison rod that is.

 

[smudger172]

Blank Colours
Many blanks can be ordered smooth ground and painted. The only gloss finishes currently available are burgundy and clear. There is also an Ultra Matt option - which is a smooth ground blank with no finish applied, which does not compromise the blank in any way, but provides a low flash finish that is scratch resistant. A personal favourite. Ultra Matt and coloured finishes incur an additional cost on all rods except Chimera and Torrix models.

This is a paragraph from Dave lumbs webb site..

I have some of his P1 rods.. Designed for pike fishing but a perfect through action blank and would make perfect carp rods....

 

[steve2]

Why not just buy the rod you want spray it yourself or get some to do it for you. You could then have it any colour you like.

 

[tigger]

Why not just buy the rod you want spray it yourself or get some to do it for you. You could then have it any colour you like.

I don't think they just spray them. I think they use some other method to colour the blank. The rod builders I know order the colour of the blanks from the manufacturer.

 

[flightliner]

If you can't find what you want it could be worth looking for a pair of 2-5tc Shimano powerloops. They are a thro action and are blue but with a black spiral wrap.
All you may require with the exception of a full cork handle which should'nt be to hard on the pocket to alter if the price of the rods is reasonable.
I have a pair from my carping days that I still use for Barbel or pike on the odd occasion and I see they appear on e- bay from time to time.

 

[lakhyaman]

Harrison's seem to be the blank of choice so off I went to their website. They have a custom rod building page where they list a large number of custom rod builders with comments on their specialities. It was extremely illuminating and included all the builders mentioned on this thread with contact info.

However, following the high recommendations on other parts of this forum I had actually visited and bought the hugely popular 11ft 3/4 test curve Darenth Valley specialist rod from Mr. Kevin Peet of the Tackle Box with a modified handle (which he had done to perfection). Having dealt with him I have decided to speak to him first and see how we proceed.

Thanks to all of you who took such interest in my quest.

Incidentally I have in the past taken a couple of black rods to professional car painters who sanded and sprayed and baked on various hues and types of car paint on them. While the coating lasts for a year or so it eventually begins to flake off!

All the best

Lakhyaman.