It is currently 28 Mar 2024, 14:22

Forum Guide


These discussions MUST stay on the original topic.
Please be courteous and considerate.

Only Commercial Forum members and Staff may initiate discussions here - everyone may reply


New Topic Add Reply
Author Message
Post 23 Aug 2014, 13:24 • #1 
Administrator
Joined: 01/10/06
Posts: 7811
Location: Holly Springs, NC
Many of us know Vic Johnson Jr. for his Fiberglass Fly Rods, the definitive guide for the classic glass fanatic.* Johnson and his father, Vic Johnson Sr., wrote their book about the rods they fished and loved. However, when Fiberglass Fly Rods was published in 1996, the fiberglass market was nearly dead with no hopes for recovery. The huge production glass companies had long since closed shop. Smaller companies like Scott, Orvis, and T&T moved exclusively to graphite. With the exception of low volume production from Lamiglas, Eagle Claw, and the legendary Dennis Franke, glass was gone. Johnson and Johnson's elegy to a dying industry documented the pioneers of the fiberglass fly rod before their stories were lost to time.

That dying industry has revived dramatically since 1996.

To help keep up, Vic Johnson has published a Price Guide to supplement his Fiberglass Fly Rods book. His guide documents over 350 actual rod sales, with the rod maker, rod details, rod condition, and final sales price described. There is an example page pictured below (sorry - for the prices you have to buy the booklet ;)). The Price Guide covers 65 different rod makers, including both classic and modern rod builders. The booklet only covers the rods and the prices. At 16 pages long, this booklet contains a ton of useful information in a compact format.

The information in the Price Guide is an excellent introduction to market prices. While the booklet doesn't list prices for every imaginable rod from every conceivable maker, there is ample information to estimate a reasonable value for most rods we may encounter. eBay antique dealers will hate this booklet - there are no overblown, inflated prices. Instead Johnson's guide reflects what we might find in our own For Sale section. For anyone new to this market, the Price Guide is a valuable reality check before you click that Buy-It-Now button. For the experienced buyer, the breadth of price data is remarkable - very, very few buyers have personally tracked this many rod sales for this many different rod brands.

The cost of the Price Guide is $6.50 plus $1.00 for shipping and handling. An additional $0.50 will be charged to California residents for sales tax. Officially the Price Guide hit the market yesterday. A couple of specialty booksellers just listed it on their websites. However, the easiest, quickest source is Vic Johnson himself. Johnson is out of the country until September 10, 2014.** Once he returns, Johnson will take orders for his Price Guide - see his website for contact information (www.engineeringpathways.com - the Price Guide is not on the website yet). Johnson recently joined the forum (username historybuff), so you may also contact him via the forum email function.

Tom

* Johnson has also written America's Fly Lines (2003), Fenwick (2005), America's Fishing Waders (2008), and Eight Points of Light (2013).

** Additional good news, Vic Johnson is writing a new edition of Fiberglass Fly Rods with anticipated publication in 2015. His new book covers the modern fiberglass market. Johnson will be doing research for his new book in Europe the next couple of weeks (and hopefully chasing some salmon). Stay tuned for details...

Image

Image


Top
  
Quote
Post 23 Aug 2014, 13:51 • #2 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 07/22/11
Posts: 1720
Location: US-TX
Awesome news. Thanks for the info.


Top
  
Quote
Post 23 Aug 2014, 13:57 • #3 
Emeritus
Joined: 06/08/07
Posts: 2505
Location: Superior, Colorado
Thanks for this bit of important and exciting news Tom!


Top
  
Quote
Post 23 Aug 2014, 17:36 • #4 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 05/30/07
Posts: 2342
Location: Arlington, TX
Good stuff thanks


Top
  
Quote
Post 25 Aug 2014, 07:31 • #5 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 10/18/12
Posts: 1712
Location: Bozeman, MT
Excellent!


Top
  
Quote
Post 26 Aug 2014, 10:00 • #6 
Master Guide
Joined: 05/17/11
Posts: 997
Location: US-NC
Thanks Tom!
Will await Mr. Johnson's return and order the price guide from him.


Top
  
Quote
Post 26 Aug 2014, 19:14 • #7 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 10/26/12
Posts: 1188
Location: Fairfax, Virginia
The price guide is nice, and this is an ideal point in time for a complete re-write of the full book !

Pecos


Top
  
Quote
Post 28 Aug 2014, 13:38 • #8 
Glass Fanatic
Joined: 09/22/09
Posts: 1494
Location: Sweden
I had a nice meeting with Victor Johnson and his wife Nancy here in Stockholm, Sweden today.

He gave me a hard copy of the price guide, together with another new book of his called Eight Points of Light - Eight People Who Changed Fly Fishing Who You Do Not Know Very Well. These books are excellent, both as information and inspiration. The price guide does not cover everything, but gives a good image of the market, based on hundreds of listings monitored by the author.

Vic and Nancy are also two very nice persons, and I'm very happy we finally could meet up in person.

Christian


Top
  
Quote
Post 11 Sep 2014, 12:26 • #9 
Administrator
Joined: 01/10/06
Posts: 7811
Location: Holly Springs, NC
An update: Vic J. is back from Europe and quickly recovering from jetlag. He is ready, willing, and able to take orders for the price guide.

You can send an email to Vic via the forum software, or you can use the contact information available at his website: http://www.engineeringpathways.com

Tom


Top
  
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  

New Topic Add Reply



Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 18 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Jump to:  
Google
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group