Tom Anderson, a.k.a. "Duff", from the Fiberglass Flyrodders forum has been making the best use of his summer traveling a few of the western states enjoying day after day of fly fishing.
Tom took a break last week and met up with Ian Crabtree of the Scott Fly Rod Company for a tour of their facility in Montrose, Colorado.
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
Lucky for us he took a few notes and photographs to share from the tour to share on T.F.M...
- Scott has sold more fiberglass rods this year than in the last ten years.
- All F2 rods are on backorder to dealers and have been for quite a while. Three weeks is the usual wait.
- The Japanese "eat them up" as Ian said. Lots of F2's head off to Japan.
- Scott sells more 703/3 than any other F2.
- Ian's favorite F2, as well as many Scott employees, is the 653/3. I heartily concur on this.
- Two women do the hand writing on the glass rods and use calligraphy ink.
- Fiberglass is run by itself because all the tables must be cleaned as there is a great chance for graphite fibers to adhere to the yellow glass.
- Each glass rod gets a careful inspection and the blanks are sanded smooth.
- All mandrels are precision ground in Japan.
- Scott gets it lightness in the F2's by reducing the number of horizontal fibers since glass does not need excessive hoop strength.
- Ian remembered reading on Fiberglass Flyrodders when the F2's were released that some people were disappointed that Scott didn't pay more attention to reel seat cosmetics. He said that one hit him hard because they tried to keep the hardware true to the early Scott aesthetic going with aluminum cap and band and uplocking aluminum with cork insert. I think Scott did a great job with the cosmetics. The F2 is a beautiful rod in all respects.
- Some F2 prototypes are in the works but Ian would not give any specifics though did admit that they would be most likely offered only to Japan. Darn!
- No parabolics are being considered.
- There were some early yellow glass rods on display, particularly a tiny three-piece that mush have been a 5-footer, that made me want to smash and grab it. Sorry Ian!
Duff...thanks for the photos and report from the road.
Tom took a break last week and met up with Ian Crabtree of the Scott Fly Rod Company for a tour of their facility in Montrose, Colorado.
Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
Lucky for us he took a few notes and photographs to share from the tour to share on T.F.M...
- Scott has sold more fiberglass rods this year than in the last ten years.
- All F2 rods are on backorder to dealers and have been for quite a while. Three weeks is the usual wait.
- The Japanese "eat them up" as Ian said. Lots of F2's head off to Japan.
- Scott sells more 703/3 than any other F2.
- Ian's favorite F2, as well as many Scott employees, is the 653/3. I heartily concur on this.
- Two women do the hand writing on the glass rods and use calligraphy ink.
- Fiberglass is run by itself because all the tables must be cleaned as there is a great chance for graphite fibers to adhere to the yellow glass.
- Each glass rod gets a careful inspection and the blanks are sanded smooth.
- All mandrels are precision ground in Japan.
- Scott gets it lightness in the F2's by reducing the number of horizontal fibers since glass does not need excessive hoop strength.
- Ian remembered reading on Fiberglass Flyrodders when the F2's were released that some people were disappointed that Scott didn't pay more attention to reel seat cosmetics. He said that one hit him hard because they tried to keep the hardware true to the early Scott aesthetic going with aluminum cap and band and uplocking aluminum with cork insert. I think Scott did a great job with the cosmetics. The F2 is a beautiful rod in all respects.
- Some F2 prototypes are in the works but Ian would not give any specifics though did admit that they would be most likely offered only to Japan. Darn!
- No parabolics are being considered.
- There were some early yellow glass rods on display, particularly a tiny three-piece that mush have been a 5-footer, that made me want to smash and grab it. Sorry Ian!
Duff...thanks for the photos and report from the road.
2 comments:
Great report!
I didn't know they are developping "Japan Special"
Kab...yes, you are so lucky.
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