Before we get into the nitty gritty of custom rods vs. store bought rods, let’s look at the business side of manufactured (or store bought) rods.
Manufacturers of store-bought rods have one thought in mind when building a fishing rod: sell as many rods as quickly as possible using all the same materials. The manufacturer is looking to gather the interest of a large enough group of anglers so they can mass-produce these rods and get a per-unit advantage on the sales of rods. If they can sell 1,000 rods using the same blanks, grips, real seats, guides, inserts, winding checks, thread, paint, and epoxy, they will know how much that will cost them and how much profit they need to make on each of the rods. These rods are found in fishing shops, big-box stores and online everywhere, and they make up a majority of the rods that you see online.
These mass-produced rod manufacturers buy in bulk and set out building their rods as quickly as they can to reduce labor cost. The mass-produced rod has profitability baked in so the rod manufacturer can pay their advertising expense, management overhead, rent, utilities, inventory and still have enough left over to make a profit on the sale. As you can see, finding the largest group they can to buy the mass-produced fishing rod makes economic sense. If you can make $25 a rod, your incentive is to sell as many of these rods as possible to get as much profit as possible. Incentives are lined up to find the largest buying audience and sell, sell, sell. Given the value of labor and the cost refunding consumers on broken or poorly crafted rods, these manufacturers know how many returned / damaged rods will come back to them for warranty work. This too is priced into each rod.
On the other hand, custom fishing rod builders focus on quality, craftsmanship, and service over scale. Custom rod builders are experts at the craft of rod building and they prioritize each customer’s needs over mass profits.
3 Common Traits of Custom Rod Builders
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Store-bought rods are made for the average angler when assembling their bill of materials. For example, take a medium-heavy spinning rod. The blanks are bought in bulk, optimizing for one length, and the rods are not individually spined. There’s a strong possibility the guides are not aligned with the true bend of the rod on its spine. The reel seat and grips are ordered in bulk. On a majority of rods, the reel seat is not epoxyed to the rod (increases margin). It may not fit the reel(s) you have, leaving your connection to the rod unstable which can dampen the sensitivity or cause your reel to unattach. The guides are not spaced for your reel or the line you like to use, reducing your accuracy.
With custom built rods, each one of these components are chosen for the type of fishing you prefer. When working with your custom rod builder they’ll want to know lure sizes, the type of water, and often, how you transport your rods. This gives the custom rod builder direction on optimal rod length. From there, they’ll look to understand more about the locations you like to fish and if you have any issue with grips causing blisters or not being placed correctly for leverage.
While understanding more about how you fish, custom rod builders are listening for signals that may indicate if cork, EVA foam or Winn grips might make the most sense. Once the grip material is decided, the shape and length can be easily configured. From there, the reel type and spool size will be taken into consideration for guide spacing and reel seat selection, ensuring these components are anchored to the rod correctly so you can get the full value of that carbon fiber, graphite, composite or fiberglass rod.
When it comes to personalization, there’s really no comparison between mass-produced rods and custom rods built one at a time. Yes, there are some rod manufacturers who can let you choose from two grip types, and you can choose thread wraps on your guides in two colors, but typically store-bought rods have no capability to make the rod individualized as you may like. It is not profitable and does not make sense for their business model.
Custom rod builders are able to make your rod with custom components matching your type of fishing and they are able to add logos, brands, signatures, custom colors, custom thread wraps, and intricate designs which take years to master. Once you’ve fished with a custom-built rod, it’s hard to understand why you would use a mass-produced rod for such an individual experience.
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Store-bought rods can have an advantage when it comes to timing. What the manufacturer produces in bulk is widely available right when you need it. When the manufacturer lines up all the inventory and quickly assembles, time is of the essence on the whole lot of rods. A custom rod builder can take anywhere from 2 days to over 3 weeks to get the rod you’ve configured with them. But this is all by design.
Custom rod builders are efficient with time and materials. Staying competitive on pricing means they have no need to stock-pile inventory of blanks, guides, grips etc.. Builders only buy what’s needed for the foreseeable future.
There are three levels of production turns with custom rod builders:
Level 1: The quickest turnaround time, Level 1 can take from 2-7 days, and these rods are often built in advance based on some wildly popular configurations they’ve found when working with clients. You get a bespoke rod, but it may not have the exact customizations you expect. In this scenario, the custom rod builder will let you know if what they have could be a good match for your type of fishing.
Level 2: This can take 7-14 days. Rods on this schedule are in the sweet spot of the consumer and the rod builder. The builder happens to have all the inventory the angler needs, and the builder has been efficiently processing orders with no backlog to fight.
Level 3: The slower-paced Level 3 can take over three weeks and this can be based on inventory on-hand or there can be fine tuning or cosmetic customizations that need to be wrapped or applied to the custom rod in phases. As you are configuring your custom rod with your builder, check with them on impacts to build times to ensure you all are on the same page.
Shipping time and method is fairly similar for both rod types. Custom rod builders want to get you the rod they’ve built as quickly, safely and as inexpensive as possible. The process is very similar to buying any fishing rod online. The main difference being the email or text message you get when your rod is on its way will come from a builder themself, and not an automated system that has been tracking that rod blank since it was rolled.
The rods are placed in cardboard tubes, long cardboard boxes or in PVC tubes. In the event you’ve ordered a custom built fly rod, the rod can be shipped in an aluminum rod case so you can keep it safe when you travel to your next fishing destination. The price for shipping can vary slightly, but this is mainly due to macro items like fuel and the availability of drivers and planes.
Pricing range of mass-produced fishing rods really depends on the type of rod. Whether it’s a saltwater trolling rod or a fly rod does influence the price. When you compare the same class of rod—one from a store and one custom builder—you’ll see there’s generally no major difference in price.
Here are some 2022 pricing guidelines we’ve compiled when comparing store bought rods to custom fishing rods.
Store bought rods vs. Custom fishing rod pricing*
*pricing gathered from posted online pricing and from conversations with custom rod builders across the US in 2022
As you can see, if you are looking for performance that fits you, going with a custom built fishing rod can get you exactly what you want for a price that is often better than “high-performance” store bought rods.
Mass-produced fishing rods are geared for the largest group possible. The manufacturer is balancing between what appeals to most, cost for getting materials, and speed to manufacture. The custom fishing rod builder has taken a different path. As a craftsman, their achievement is in efficiently making you satisfied and with that a chance to ply their passion to another custom fishing rod.
The value you get from a custom built rod can far exceed a store-bought or manufactured rod from a big box store. As we’ve discussed above, the quality is often much better because a custom rod is made from materials and components that are personalized to you and your fishing experience. Since there’s no major difference in price between custom rods and store-bought rods, but a big difference in quality and craftsmanship, a custom built fishing rod provides greater long-term value, and has a big impact on your time on the water.
