Glossy finish on rods

[plawren53202]

Was in Academy, just browsing tonight, looking at rods and reels in particular. I checked out a bunch of different rods, as much as you can in a store anyway.

 

Within the last few months I bought Dobyns Furys, casting and spinning. Loving those rods. The blanks are a matte finish, which I like the look of.

 

There were several rods I checked out at Academy tonight that I liked but they had a glossy finish. Some of the H20 rods were nice, also the Shimano Sellus which I have heard a lot of good feedback on.

 

In guitar world, my other hobby, thick glossy finishes can deaden vibration and degrade sound quality of the guitar. In particular the cheap Fender Strat knockoffs typically have a thick clear poly finish that is not good for vibration and hurts the sound. Now there are some clear coats like nitrocellulose that don't degrade sound quality, but you have to pay more for them.

 

Seems like the same would be true for rods? Seems to me like a clear poly coat put on a rod to give a glossy finish would add weight and cut down on sensitivity. Plus it is an added step meaning added cost. Maybe I'm totally off base on this. Just thinking though this issue through my guitar background.

[Manifestgtr]

1 hour ago, plawren53202 said:

In guitar world, my other hobby, thick glossy finishes can deaden vibration and degrade sound quality of the guitar. In particular the cheap Fender Strat knockoffs typically have a thick clear poly finish that is not good for vibration and hurts the sound. Now there are some clear coats like nitrocellulose that don't degrade sound quality, but you have to pay more for them.

This is actually a myth. I’m a guitar tech/gb player for my day job and a strat fanatic. I’ve played pre-cbs strats and new, polyester/polyurethane finished strats alike that have beautiful, long lasting, rich sustain. The thing that matters most in this regard is what actually touches the string...a well cut bone nut, dressed frets, a decent bridge with good saddles. These things (along with wood species ?) are debated heavily on the internet...but I’m just telling you what I’ve seen after almost three decades of encountering untold thousands of guitars. 
 

While it’s the sum of all of its parts, there are certain things that make a bigger overall difference. I’m sure this also applies to rods. With rods, you’re also dealing heavily with detection/sensation of compression waves as opposed to the manipulation of electrons via changes to a magnetic field...so, in that regard, things like finish almost certainly have a greater impact.

 

Sorry for the novel. You just combined my two favorite things in life...bass fishing and guitars.

[waymont]

10 hours ago, plawren53202 said:

Seems to me like a clear poly coat put on a rod to give a glossy finish would add weight and cut down on sensitivity.

In my experience with rods, the more of any weight on the blank will lessen the sensitivity. Guides, wraps, gloss all add weight. I'm also a guitar player for 35 years. Guitar players have as many opinions about finish on guitars as bass fisherman have about which is the better type of line.

[plawren53202]

16 hours ago, Manifestgtr said:

This is actually a myth. I’m a guitar tech/gb player for my day job and a strat fanatic. I’ve played pre-cbs strats and new, polyester/polyurethane finished strats alike that have beautiful, long lasting, rich sustain. The thing that matters most in this regard is what actually touches the string...a well cut bone nut, dressed frets, a decent bridge with good saddles. These things (along with wood species ?) are debated heavily on the internet...but I’m just telling you what I’ve seen after almost three decades of encountering untold thousands of guitars. 

? You're not kidding there's a lot of debate in guitar world. Upon rereading I guess I oversimplified the guitar part. I definitely agree with you on other things making more of a difference than finish. Maybe my other instrument, the mandolin, this would apply to more (or acoustic guitars in general), where I have heard others say that a thick low quality finish can impede wood resonance. I'm certainly no guitar tech though.

7 hours ago, waymont said:

In my experience with rods, the more of any weight on the blank will lessen the sensitivity. Guides, wraps, gloss all add weight. I'm also a guitar player for 35 years. Guitar players have as many opinions about finish on guitars as bass fisherman have about which is the better type of line.

Specific debates about guitars notwithstanding, this is what seemed to make sense to me. It would seem that taking any rod and applying a glossy finish would be more likely to deaden vibration and thus make the rod less sensitive. 

 

This dawned on me in particular when I was holding the Shimano Sellus. It is a more reasonably priced rods that seems to get good reviews, and in general I liked the feel of it for the price. It had a glossy finish. Seems to me that if this negatively impacts sensitivity (or at least doesn't help it), and is an extra step in the manufacturing process and thus adds cost, they why do it? I guess it has to be that they have focus group or market study data that shows that people are more likely to like the look of and buy a glossy rod. Me personally, I really like matte rods (also tend to like matte guitars); certainly, I'm going to like better the look of whatever leads to a more sensitive rod. Definitely with the two Dobyns Furys I recently got, both are extremely sensitive and both are matte.

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

Gloss finish on rods is very thin urethane. Shouldn’t hurt much if at all. 

[Manifestgtr]

On 5/31/2020 at 7:00 PM, plawren53202 said:

? You're not kidding there's a lot of debate in guitar world.

Haha yeah, I charged into that battle like braveheart....

 

two replies later:

[Jleebesaw]

Its funny. Im a guitar player too. I was just reading another post about abu and lews reels being made in korea by the same company and guys figuring that they were junk because of that.

         My first thought was of guitars. I almost commented about how that corrolates to them! The best guitars for under $1500 are usually from korea and the best reels for under $200 seem to be as well. 

[Tywithay]

If foam or winn grips don't deaden the vibration much, I doubt the finish will make a huge difference. 

[Manifestgtr]

9 minutes ago, Jleebesaw said:

The best guitars for under $1500 are usually from korea and the best reels for under $200 seem to be as well. 

Korean manufacturing has been getting better and better. If you play an early 90s made in Korea strat, it’s kind of like “yeah, this is pretty cool”. But now they’re pumping out killleerrrr stuff for prs, washburn, etc.

 

The doyo, etc reels aren’t my absolute favorites at that price but the point remains. A good Abu Garcia or bps specimen will easily stand toe to toe with a good Daiwa/Shimano/what have you. I have two 5-10 year old doyo reels (bps and abu) that are still all original and still tickin

[Jleebesaw]

Yea, me too. I have some abu reels that must be korean. I never even looked to see where they were made! They work well for me. I just always assumed most fishing equipment was asian made unless maybe it was very nice high end stuff.