2-4 piece Major Craft rods; ferrule fit/finish

[softwateronly]

I picked up a MC Triple Cross 7'9MH (salt) as a secondary scrounger, swim jig, spoon, and occasional deep crank rod to leave at my in-laws.  This is the first 2-piece rod I've bought in a long time.  This seems to be the proper mating of the sections and I'm fairly confident I've seated it properly, but to my eyes this seems like an odd design choice.  Been thinking about one of their travel rods, but three of these might send me over the edge

 

scott

 

ps - in action, the rod cast and felt very similar to an exprideA 7'7H.  Just as I had hoped at much better price point.

 

[garroyo130]

Thats the fit on them. At least in the 2 ultralight Major Crafts I own, they are like that. Never a problem with them. 

[Tatulatard]

That's normal for a ferrule joint connection.  It will be very secure and will fish like a one piece rod once assembled but look like that with the gaps.  All ferrule join connections I have seen are like that from any make.

[Deleted account]

Yeah, that's the way they are designed, a few different makers do it that way. No one has been able to explain to me why they can't just match it up cosmetically with an explanation that makes sense. 

[Jar11591]

My Fenwick Methods travel rods have the exact same thing. For whatever reason, it’s supposed to look like this. 

[softwateronly]

Thanks all. It’s nice to confirm what I suspected. The rod fishes great, I’ll know more when I actually get a fish on it. 
 

scott

[casts_by_fly]

1 hour ago, softwateronly said:

I picked up a MC Triple Cross 7'9MH (salt) as a secondary scrounger, swim jig, spoon, and occasional deep crank rod to leave at my in-laws.  This is the first 2-piece rod I've bought in a long time.  This seems to be the proper mating of the sections and I'm fairly confident I've seated it properly, but to my eyes this seems like an odd design choice.  Been thinking about one of their travel rods, but three of these might send me over the edge

 

scott

 

ps - in action, the rod cast and felt very similar to an exprideA 7'7H.  Just as I had hoped at much better price point.

 

 

That looks like a spigot ferrule.  Tip over butt and spigot are the two most common ferrules.  Before the advent of CAD for blanks and computer modeling of blank flex profiles, spigot ferrules were a way to get a smoother bending profile.  They were hand fitted and usually only done on high end rods (fly rods like Scott and winston for instance).  Since then, electronically modeled complex tapers have all but eliminated any stiff spots at ferrules on tip over butt blanks.

 

1 hour ago, Deleted account said:

Yeah, that's the way they are designed, a few different makers do it that way. No one has been able to explain to me why they can't just match it up cosmetically with an explanation that makes sense. 

 

manufacturing tolerances, blank flex, and wear over time.  If that's a spigot ferrule, then the worst thing that can happen is that the top section slides all the way to touching the bottom section on the ferrule.  That would indicate that the connection isn't tight enough.  If the ferrule isn't seated fully, then you'll end up cracking the top section of the ferrule when the rod flexes and you'll junk the rod.  Manufacturing tolerances aren't tight enough to seat them at the exact depth to put cosmetic wraps that 'touch' when put together but still provide the secure tight fit.  And, the ferrules wear over time.  So what is tight today will be loose 'tomorrow' and will need to come further down the ferrule.  If there is a wrap there, the top can't seat further down and you're back to the start of this paragraph.

 

With tip over butt ferrules, if there is a little wear on the two parts, then when they are put together the angler will naturally slide the bottom section in just a little further until they are secure.  It might not be the exact designed location but it will still be secure.  Same logic if there is a finished wrap on the bottom piece though.  If the wrap stops the insertion before it hits a tight fit then you're back to a loose ferrule fit.

[fishwizzard]

2 hours ago, Deleted account said:

Yeah, that's the way they are designed, a few different makers do it that way. No one has been able to explain to me why they can't just match it up cosmetically with an explanation that makes sense. 

I always assumed it was that getting the tolerances right for a flush-fit would be too difficult at any reasonable fishing rod price point, so the safest option is to to err on the side of making the ferrule overly long rather then too short, risking a loose fit. 

[Deleted account]

5 hours ago, casts_by_fly said:

manufacturing tolerances, blank flex, and wear over time. 

 

Yeah, I've heard those, I'm not buying it, I used to work with carbon fiber manufacturers in Taiwan (not rods) it's very doable.

[Darth-Baiter]

My Triza rod is just like that.  Curious. 

[casts_by_fly]

1 hour ago, Deleted account said:

 

Yeah, I've heard those, I'm not buying it, I used to work with carbon fiber manufacturers in Taiwan (not rods) it's very doable.

not at a price point you’d want to put into a fishing rod ferrule.