Vic Johnson's
Fenwick (
2005) and
Fiberglass Fly Rods (
1996) were not intended to be detailed chronicles of every single rod Fenwick ever produced.
Fenwick is primarily a history of the changes and evolution of the company and its products.
Fiberglass Fly Rods is an introduction to the many companies that developed the market and led to the glory days of glass.
The original question was,
Fredderf wrote:
What Letter was used for 1970-1971?
Really? An image from Johnson's
Fenwick is posted with the question. The text in that image states, "
Fenwick followed this letter system until the letter K (i.e., 1971 tackle year)." So in my opinion, the answer is right there in the text.
K. Also in my opinion, take the serial number list with a big grain of salt.
In the interest of further flogging a
very, very dead horse, the text also states, "
At this point, things got a little more complicated. We are fortunate to have a copy of an old Fenwick document that tried to reconcile the years after 1970." Note, the text does not state the document absolutely reconciles the serial numbers. The subsequent table lists "
K 1971-1973 (2 years)" and then "
L 1973-1974". Something doesn't
quite match up. I don't have a copy of the reference, so I don't know if
K 1971-1973 (2 years) is a typo or carried over from the original Fenwick document. Perhaps the
J serial numbers were used for tackle years 1970 & 1971. Perhaps the
K serial numbers were used for tackle years 1971, 1972, & 1973.
The
Fenwick text states
K was used for the 1971 tackle year. I have 3, three digit model number Fenwicks with
K serial numbers (and 1, two digit model number Fenwick with a
K serial number). The first tackle year for three digit model number Fenwicks was 1973. In my opinion, the simplest explanation is
K serial numbers covered the 1971-1973 tackle years (i.e., rod production from late 1970 through most of 1973).
Tom