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Featured Topic History of Fiberglass at Winston | |
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 BH Spey |
Sweetgrass Rods |
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Master Guide
Posts: 138 (07/11/08 16:29:44) |
http://www.sweetgrassrods.com/
[Edit: Updated the link to the current fiberglass page. The rod listings are the old series, but the photographs are the new rods that Sweetgrass is bringing out. Tom]
-- This Space For Rent --
Last Edited By: jgestar 02/01/10 00:59:08.
Edited 1 time.
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docbluedevil |
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Master Guide
Posts: 735 (01/31/10 15:05:45) |
I read on Cameron's TFM blog that Sweetgrass is now offering the following models:
7'3" - Three Weight 7'6" - Three Weight 7'6" - Four Weight 7'9" - Four Weight 8'3" - Six Weight IIRC, their previously offered 2 models (6'6" 3 wt and 7'6" 4 wt) used Lamiglas blanks. Who currently makes the blanks for these new offereings? In-house or out-sourced? Just curious. 
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jgestar |
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Posts: 4500 (02/01/10 00:32:45) ezOP |
Yes. Sam Druckman traveled to Kerry Burkheimer's shop to work out the rod tapers. Burkheimer is building the blanks and Druckman is building the rods.
Cameron borrowed the 8'3" four piece from Sweetgrass. He let me borrow if too. It's a great rod. It casts from in close to way out there without missing any distance in between. The rod has a lot of touch along the way. The build quality is what you would expect from Sweetgrass. I'm hoping Cameron can borrow a three weight also... Tom |
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docbluedevil |
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Master Guide
Posts: 740 (02/01/10 00:37:43) |
Thanks for the info, Tom.
Interesting that Burkheimer is now constructing blanks for both Sweetgrass as well as Tom Morgan.
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Arctic Grayling |
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Master Guide
Posts: 485 (02/01/10 00:48:37) |
What????? No Five Weights??????
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frogmorton |
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Master Guide
Posts: 373 (02/01/10 03:15:34) |
Arctic Grayling wrote: I emailed that very question to Sam Druckman a couple of months ago. He said he had a 7'6" 5 wt currently available with more 5's on the way. |
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tabornatives |
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Master Guide
Posts: 220 (02/01/10 05:48:59) |
I know that this is approaching the "uncomfortable" zone, but are these fiberglass rods being built by guys whose primary interest is cane really $400 better than a Steffen who has been dedicated to the art of building fiberglass flyrods for his entire career? It seems presumptuous to start a new project and price it at the head of the class. Kind of like the "emperor's new clothes", or perhaps it's more like the reason why dogs lick their testicles... because they can.
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jgestar |
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Posts: 4502 (02/01/10 08:23:04) ezOP |
Rich,
Any buyer has to settle the question of price in his mind, particularly when the price is at the top of the range. These Sweetgrass rods are well made from both the performance and cosmetic point of view. The one I handled and cast was well done. Drukman's primary interest has always been graphite, but in this case he has done a very good job with glass. I'm not going to say if the rod is "worth it", because I don't know what factors make it "worth it" to any particular buyer. Worth it could mean the ultimate casting performance, the ultimate in aesthetic design, or the ultimate in long range collectible value. Ultimate anything leaves a lot of room for personal preference. Someone may want the rod simply because they have a matching red sportscar. This rod is basically the cost of a top of the line Sage, and we know people buy them with a whole lot less consideration than would go into the purchase of a Sweetgrass. For some buyers, this rod may be exactly what they want. Tom |
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middlemac |
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Posts: 1405 (02/01/10 14:54:00) Projects Coordinator |
After looking at Sam's glass comments on the link, I have to say more power to him.
I couldn't afford one, but to see him, with his experience, experimenting with and putting together a fresh line of glass is inspiring. For someone who wants and can afford that "certain something" it may be the ticket... and one of my business advisers insists that some of us Yuppies won't buy anything unless it's expensive 
middlemac
Last Edited By: middlemac
02/01/10 14:57:10.
Edited 1 times.
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16 pmd |
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Sport
Posts: 66 (02/01/10 15:46:54) |
I don't think the Sweetgrass boys are Johnny-Come-Latelys in designing and building rods other than bamboo. Glenn B. from his days at Winston and Sam Druckman from his days at Scott and Winston have decades of experience with glass or graphite. As Jim Green, the renowned designer for Fenwick and Sage often said, "Good action is good action, whatever the material" - and he should know. He designed rods in bamboo, glass, graphite, boron and composites. I have little doubt that the Sweetgrass boys too will come up with fine designs and fine finishes.
As to price, I don't know either whether they will be a good value or "worth it", depending on your tastes and pocketbook. I do think it's worth pointing out, however, that when those same guys worked for another owner, at Winston, their bamboos sold for about $3,000. Now that they have left and are on their own, their identical rods sell for around $2,000. Not a sign of Goldman Sachs-style sharks in the water! |
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docbluedevil |
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Master Guide
Posts: 744 (02/01/10 17:00:59) |
Wow, there was a time when Wojnickis sat alone at the top spot for most expensive modern glass. It looks it is getting crowded up there with $1200 Morgans and $800+ Sweetgrasses/Carpenters.
A trend seems to be emerging that high end bamboo builders are offering glass options lately.
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Flybox |
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Sport
Posts: 30 (02/01/10 17:39:53) |
When people are use to paying $3000 for a cane rod and then they find they can get the same craftsmanship and action for $800 that probably seems cheap. On the other side of the fence you walk into a fly shop and you ask to see a nice graphite rod. They now cost $800 and they are mass produced. You can have an awesome fiberglass rod that not everyone is on the stream fishing 1) because they are custom made - low in numbers 2) not everyone can cast a medium action rod nor do they want to. One aspect that I enjoy is you can call one of the fiberglass builders and personally talk with him about a rod you would like to purchase. If you call one of the big companies you get to talk with the secretary. |
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docbluedevil |
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Master Guide
Posts: 745 (02/01/10 17:49:04) |
Nice, Chris. Looks like you broke Sweetgrass' mold to start offering other configurations!
How would you compare your Sweetgrass to your Wojnicki experience?
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Flybox |
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Sport
Posts: 31 (02/01/10 19:59:15) |
The first time I took the Sweetgrass fishing I went to Arkansas. I was on the White River and they were running two generators, so the water was moving pretty good. Well, I had driven 5 hours to get there so I wanted to fish and with my new rod. With the water moving so fast, drifts were pretty quick. I had to get a lot of line out so I could get as long a drift as possible. I always had a lot of line out and it picked it up and moved it no problem. When I had a fish on it was responsive and sensitive like you would expect out of a fiberglass medium action rod. I would say that it is OK close in, but once you get 30 feet out it really starts working. I would like to try some other lines on it. I think that if I had a 3 DT line it might even work better!
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Duff |
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Master Guide
Posts: 880 (07/12/10 20:37:50) |
I thought I'd add a little to this thread ...
I stopped today at the Boo Boys' new shop (Sweetwater) in Twin Bridges to look around. The new shop is much larger with a nice display area where many of their bamboo rods are displayed. As most people know, these guys are just unbelievably hospitable and before I knew it I was on a tour of the entire facility from the bamboo culm storage area to the finish area where I ran into Sam Drukman. Sam, as usual, was very patient with me. He allowed me to take photos and talked about glass in general and also about the time spent with Kerry Burkheimer last year when he made his current blanks. He told me he actually designed the mandrels and rolled the blanks on Kerry's equipment. He said that some of the blanks had a little color added to them but Sam said that he prefers to work with white blanks as more can be done with them. I had a chance to closely inspect the glass rod that Sam was working on and I have to say it was drop-dead gorgeous. At the moment, Sam was working on one of the last production glass rod from the Burkheimer blanks. Sam is hoping to do his next run of blanks on his own in-house equipment feeling that he would have much more control over the entire process. He allowed that it may take a while before the finances could be put together to start this endeavor. When I was taking some shots of the blank (pictured on his bench) I noticed that the "S" in Sweetgrass looked familiar. It turns out Sam had done the writing on the Scott rods built in Berkeley. I told him that I had always wondered why the writing got better on the rods when they moved over to Berkley. He said it takes a lot of practice to write on a round blank and that the hardest part is to learn to move the rod as you write. I have to say that his script is about as elegant as I have seen. (Sam has a degree in art.)      FWIW ... I noticed a rod in the display area that was for sale along with some used bamboo. It was a dead mint San Francisco Winston fiberglass fly rod - 8 1/2' #6 in four-piece. I almost bought it but Glenn couldn't find the original tube and sock so I passed - probably shouldn't have at $350. It really is in new condition and was built in 1974. It is fitted with a gold tone aluminum reel seat which was pretty standard at that time. The seat actually is very nice. If anybody wants it just call Sweetgrass. BTW, Glenn said he'd make a tube and sock for it for no charge. I actually felt terrible because Glenn was tearing the place apart looking for the tube. He did find two SF tubes but not the right one. I hadn't seen Glenn Brackett for at least 25 years and he looked just the same. What the &^%$ happened to me during that time! PS: Sorry about the fuzzy shots. I didn't use flash and I guess there was less light than I thought.
Last Edited By: Duff
07/12/10 20:56:12.
Edited 2 times.
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Cameron |
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Posts: 4502 (07/12/10 20:54:01)
Administrator &
Chat Room Host |
Duff...great report as always! Thanks for the photos and tour.
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Arctic Grayling |
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Master Guide
Posts: 594 (07/15/10 00:03:11) |
There are some good pictures of the new Sweetgrass shop on their website too.
Didn't the Sweetgrass fiberglass rod that Cameron test drive have a burgundy colored blank? I thought that the gray colored Sweetgrass rods were the graphite rods? Did something change? |
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bob4st |
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Master Guide
Posts: 772 (07/17/10 17:14:01) RETRO GROUCH! |
...great pics and report Duff... Jim and I will be out there next month throwing hoppers, etc... will likely stop in for a look-see and test drive a couple...
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