So for my own edification, if I understand you, the pics of my rod above was NOT made on a Fisher blank?


That would be SO awesome. Sign me up for the whole series!

Randy

Randy thanks for posting the pictures. Yours looks like its in perfect unused condition?

This is the first time I have been able to compare one of these to one that I found a couple years back. Mine is used and its a GREAT fly rod. I love casting it a lot. Always thought it was a home built phillipson. I never thought mine was right because of the color, stripping guide, reel seat and grip.

Can't wait for the Phillipson book. Just got the Silaflex book, and it's very interesting and a great resource. Keep up the great work, Todd!

Kevin

Todd, Sorry to be a pain, but I would like to know specifically why you think that catalog listing refers to spigot ferruled blanks? Could you post the page? That information isn't in the previous post of the 1974 catalog that you made.

There are earlier forum posts with the Series C burgundy blanks. When the ferrule is pictured, the photos show glass sleeve ferrules, not spigots.

• LAD1 mentions the C762 and C801 blanks, but only the C801 shows the ferrule (sleeve) in a photo.
• WetFlyAction details a Phillipson Build on a C701 blank, with a sleeve ferrule.
• There is also this Basspond.yuku.com post by Bulldog1935 showing a sleeve ferrule C702.

I realize three instances do not constitute definitive proof. But I couldn't find any instances of Series C Phillipson blanks with spigot ferrules, either on the forum or the web.

Tom

FWIW: The 2 blanks I recently received are both labeled identically (including A701), even though 1 blank has the sleeve ferrule and the other blank the spigot ferrule. While they are different colors and the dark brown glass feels just a bit heavier, the tapers appear to be the same.

They are labeled:

Phillipson 3M Epoxite
A701 7'0" #5

Here are a couple of photos that Randy sent me. They're not lined up end to end in the photos, but they do show the Phillipson labeling.

I'll try to get a couple of photos of the inside of the butt ends of the blanks this coming weekend.

Just heard back from Don, he says that the spigot rod was definitely NOT made in Denver, but was a post-1974 Minneapolis 3M design. Since all the machinery was packed up and shipped to Minneapolis and used there for about 18 months, it's definitely a Phillipson Rod Co. rod but perhaps it would be fair to say it is not a Bill Phillipson rod, although he would have certainly had a hand in designing it. They have a shockingly small window to have been made and sold, and I am beginning to wonder if they ever manufactured more than a thousand of them in total, given the production numbers I saw for the end of the company's history.

lt's a bit late but thought I'd add to this conversation. I recently acquired a Phillipson Epoxite 3M rod. It's a darker brown EF76 with spigot ferrules and one tip. I PM'd Fred who I knew had a dark mustard colored Phillipson Epoxite rod with two tips and the traditional Phillipson tip-over-butt ferrules. Both rods are in the 6wt class though mine will cast a 5wt very nicely too. He told me that his rod tip mic'd out to 0.098" below the tiptop. So did mine. I mic'd my Winston/Fisher 7'6" 5/6wt too and it too casts a bit better with the 6wt. So all three rods are somewhat comparable. The Winston mic'd out to 0.085" below the tiptop. The three cast differently but from what I recall, the two Epoxites cast much,much closer to each other than they do to the Winston. In addition, when I first got my Epoxite and cast it, I had immediate deja vu. It cast just like my Wanigas Ausable, though I don't have that rod any more. There are pics of a Wanigas Ausable elsewhere on the board. It's dark brown with chocolate brown wraps and has spigot ferrules. Mine was just like that. Also from what I can tell, both the Wanigas and this Epoxite spigoted rod have the same stripping guide as do the Scientific Angler System rods did of the same era.

I'm led to believe that Phillipson did some experimenting with his rod patterns using SA components, including the spigot ferrules. But by using the spigoted ferrules, I am of the opinion that he also came up with a better rod. Whether Phillipson changed the taper while with 3M, I don't know (I just measured the tip), but I can tell you that I do prefer the spigoted Phillipson over the tip-over butt variety. It seems to have a more progressive feel to it. It is a delight to cast as was the Wanigas Ausable.