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Left Coast Tackle glass
Post 20 Aug 2009, 05:00 • #1 
Sport
Joined: 04/19/07
Posts: 78
For those interested in seeing pictures of my "S" glass they are now up on my website. In addition to the pictures I also have several of the following blanks that can be made up into rods. We stock them in blank form in case a customer wants a deluxe version. I have the following in stock:
7' 3" 3/1, #3 ~ 3 in stock
7' 9" 4/1, #3/4 ~ 1 in stock
8' 1" 2/1, #5/6 ~ 2 in stock and one finished rod out for testing

Best,
Dan
Left Coast Tackle

moved to What's New on the Market - Tom


Last edited by jgestar on 03 Nov 2009, 22:34, edited 1 time in total.

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Left Coast Tackle glass
Post 20 Aug 2009, 07:54 • #2 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/19/08
Posts: 1778
Location: Western Colorado
Nice, Dan!

The rod reminds me of a Granger Special, with the brown-red blank and lime green wraps. In fact, I recently thought about a future glass build to emulate a Granger Special's colors.


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Left Coast Tackle glass
Post 20 Aug 2009, 09:57 • #3 
Master Guide
Joined: 08/03/06
Posts: 554
Location: US-OR
Dan, good looking rods. Would you consider your "e" glass on the faster or slower side of fiberglass? Any chance you will come out with a 8 1/2' for 5wt? I find a longer 5wt the most difficult to find.


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Left Coast Tackle glass
Post 20 Aug 2009, 10:30 • #4 
Sport
Joined: 04/19/07
Posts: 78
Doc and Boo, appreciate the kind words. Doc, funny you mention the Granger Special as I have several spools of original Rice's Granger green I've been saving. I was actually inspired by the old Pezon Michel glass.
Boo, regarding "E" glass I still have not gotten my prototypes to test yet. It's a long process. I won't know if the action I am looking for will suit me until I get them. But I have already thought about other "E" glass models to add.

Best,
Dan


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Left Coast Tackle glass
Post 20 Aug 2009, 12:29 • #5 
Master Guide
Joined: 04/25/07
Posts: 547
Location: US-PA
Dan, Very,very nice web site and great looking rods. Can you say alitte more details on the premium builds by AJ? Different options on reel seats, or hardware but your standard level rods look very tough to improve on. Be happy to be an East coast test site(Ha-Ha). Good luck on your new rods. Best Regards Jeff


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Left Coast Tackle glass
Post 20 Aug 2009, 13:42 • #6 
Sport
Joined: 04/19/07
Posts: 78
Well Jeff, first off thank you for the kind words. As for the deluxe rods, in addition to the extra tipping, fancier reel seats, and handmade agate stripping guides here's the story.
When my first shipment of glass blanks arrived Allen and I took them out and inspected them. He put them together and started false casting them and he turned around with a certain look in his eyes that he gets when he's on to something and said to me "we can offer customers a hand tuned rod".
You see, when glass and graphite blanks are rolled and go through their oven stage funny things happen to them molecular wise. Some come out crooked, or they have other imperfections. But one thing they all have in common is they develop soft spots. It doesn't matter who rolled them, where they were rolled at, or what company made them etc. etc.
We took three of the same blanks dimension wise and they all had a soft spot in different areas. So ...
What Allen does is he eliminates these soft spots, which in turn smoothes out the action and makes for a better casting rod.
Now, one conclusion I came to is that it takes a very experienced rodmaker who's been making bamboo rods for a long time because after several thousand rods they can detect the slightest nuances in a rods taper.
So what does this all mean? Nothing really except that I wanted to offer something special to my customers that is different from other companies.

Best,
Dan


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Left Coast Tackle glass
Post 21 Aug 2009, 07:26 • #7 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/19/08
Posts: 1778
Location: Western Colorado
softstick wrote:
What Allen does is he eliminates these soft spots, which in turn smoothes out the action and makes for a better casting rod.

Curious, Dan. What is done to eliminate these soft spots?


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Left Coast Tackle glass
Post 21 Aug 2009, 10:09 • #8 
Sport
Joined: 04/19/07
Posts: 78
Well doc, this is one of those things I am not willing to discuss. If I may kindly suggest pose the question to maybe Mike McFarland, or one of the other builders/ finishers etc. on this forum and go from there. Sorry.
I will tell you that I have had some very experienced people cast my 8' 1" and it was hard for them to discern where the soft spots are but they are there. Again, it takes an extremely experienced hand to find them when casting.

Best,
Dan


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Left Coast Tackle glass
Post 21 Aug 2009, 10:43 • #9 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 02/19/08
Posts: 1778
Location: Western Colorado
Dan

Sorry, Dan. I didn't mean to ask you to divulge proprietary secrets, but I guess I inadvertently did anyway. Image

The concept of "tuning" is a new one to me. I guess that I was just asking what variables can be tinkered with and what can be done. But no biggie, it would probably be over my head anyway. Image


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Left Coast Tackle glass
Post 21 Aug 2009, 13:55 • #10 
Master Guide
Joined: 02/26/08
Posts: 981
Location: SW, Michigan
I may be wrong but the only tuning I can imagine that can occur is spine related or moving the guides around a bit. It's not like you can change the orientation of the glass fibers ... Just a guess.


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Left Coast Tackle glass
Post 22 Nov 2009, 14:19 • #11 
Master Guide
Joined: 12/07/05
Posts: 594
Location: US-UT

I'm thinking "tuning" might be different sections of different blanks and then put them together. Butt section from blank A, mid section from blank B and maybe tip from blank A. Or C, D, Etc. Could make for a very 'tuned' perfect rod.



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Left Coast Tackle glass
Post 22 Nov 2009, 21:38 • #12 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 06/09/05
Posts: 2069
Location: Monroe, WA
hey dan,
i sure like the look of your green wraps on the brown blank. and i just noticed that you're out of covington. i sure enjoyed the cedar river last year. keep up the good work.
-mike


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Left Coast Tackle glass
Post 05 Dec 2009, 17:55 • #13 
Master Guide
Joined: 06/27/06
Posts: 774
Location: SW Missouri Ozark Plateau
I see that A.J. Thramer is finishing out your deluxe rods. If AJ is involved, they will be works of art, and built right, that's for sure. AJ is the most prolific bamboo rod maker around, and he's one rodmaker that I have the highest respect for.


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Left Coast Tackle glass
Post 08 Dec 2009, 03:07 • #14 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 11/24/06
Posts: 1507
Location: Beautiful View, WA
Dan - I see in the classifieds that you're liquidating your glass blanks and won't be selling glass any longer. Were there simply not enough orders, or was it a supply chain problem? I know you had to switch glass blank providers once before. Just curious, as I thought your concept for this glass line was interesting.


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Left Coast Tackle glass
Post 10 Dec 2009, 14:35 • #15 
Sport
Joined: 04/19/07
Posts: 78
Lugan, there are several factors. One is that I am tired of suppliers saying they are going to do one thing then they do not. I have had some bad experiences with glass blank suppliers/ rollers (not Steffen) asking for money up front then not delivering for months and months. Or not delivering at all. Or promising they will be sending something out soon. And on and on and on.
I am also getting tired of dealing with certain customers. Customers who want a quality product at a discount. Customers who order a rod then don't pay. Or they decide to avoid me after ordering a rod that I have to have AJ Thramer build whether it's glass or bamboo. Then AJ has spent his time and he's not getting paid. That means I have to come up with the money so that AJ can pay his mortgage and put food on his table. That then means I have to spend money that is reserved to pay my mortgage and put food on my table for my family.
It has put a bad taste in my mouth and made me as cranky as a rod maker and I have about lost my love for fly fishing.


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Left Coast Tackle glass
Post 10 Dec 2009, 14:46 • #16 
Master Guide
Joined: 09/05/09
Posts: 481
Location: liverpool NY
I would give up the business before I gave up fly fishing.


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Left Coast Tackle glass
Post 10 Dec 2009, 17:17 • #17 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 11/24/06
Posts: 1507
Location: Beautiful View, WA
Dan, that's terrible to hear. But are you staying in the bamboo rod business, or is that the same level of hassle and risk?


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Left Coast Tackle glass
Post 27 Dec 2009, 08:41 • #18 
Sport
Joined: 04/19/07
Posts: 78
Lugan, it's all about the same. But I have to say that the number of great customers outweighs the rest. Things of course have been skewered because of me losing my job and the current economy. At the beginning of the year I had a fairly large number of items in stock but after losing my job I needed to sell items to pay bills. Well, other folks were in the same boat and were looking for deals which eventually meant that something had to give. That something was me selling items for less than my dealer cost. So while money was coming in in reality I lost money. Fly fishing has always been a luxury, not a necessity.
I have been selling my remaining glass stock, reels that I wanted to keep for myself, and Herb Derr damascus knives but they have all been at a loss. I am not sure if I will continue to sell bamboo as a dealer needs money to buy stock from rodmakers. It's going to take a long time to build up finances again especially since it's going to take years to pay off my initial investment to open LCT.

Dan


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Left Coast Tackle glass
Post 27 Dec 2009, 11:04 • #19 
New Member
Joined: 04/18/09
Posts: 22
Location: UK
Hi Dan

Just wanted to say that I found you a pleasure to deal with on the transactions that we had this year.

Its a real pity that the actions of some anglers have put you in this frame of mind.

I hope that the outlook improves for you in 2010.

Darryl


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