I assure everyone, the writing is most definitely not a decal. The inscriptions are hand written by the lady that wraps the guides.

I do not understand the observation about preformed grips, the cork rings are glued on and hand shaped.

On our last visit with Tom Dorsey, he was describing the newest latest graphite technology they just received and how it would make the blanks lighter and stronger than the material used last year. T&T has a very large room with freezers for storage of the graphite and fiberglass rolls to protect the epoxy resin prepreg.

T&T is also now offering custom wooden reel seat inserts and nickel silver hardware in addition to their catalog described rods.

Regards,
FK

We visited Thomas & Thomas again yesterday.

On the assembly line lovely dark green fiberglass with excellent cork grip, reel seat with pretty wooden insert ready for guide wrapping.
These rods are not sold and are made up for inventory:
7'6" 3wt Quan 6
7'6" 4wt Quan 6
8' 4wt Quan 3
8" 5wt Quan 3

They can be purchased directly from T&T or via you dealer.

More FG blanks were seen coming out of the painting process in our plant tour.

In addition, they have a very extensive inventory of the discontinued graphite blanks available for repairs. I asked if they would make up a new rod for anyone who liked the early Horizon action or other models,,, the answer was yes,,,, if they have a blank in storage it can be assembled into a newly made rod.

T&T is not a mass production facility,,, they are a custom shop.
One can order rods with fancy burl wood reel seats with nickel silver and soon custom colors will be available for the blanks.

We also saw six 9' 5wt graphite rods made in 6pc being finished for a special order going to Europe.

It was also confirmed to us that the rumor of Mark Richens selling T&T is off the table and he is not considering any sale at this time. They are very busy making the new Tom Dorsey designed rods and are backlogged for production orders.

Regards,
FK