Lews is taking Abu's spot.

[bulldog1935]

@1984isNOW

Smith Super Strike FO-56 

 

They sell both grip + rod blade, and sell grips and rod blades separately.  (I buy straight grips, and one person I know who bought a pistol grip said it was too small for his hands.)

 

Offset grip puts the tall frame on round reels in comfortable thumb position  

 

There's a "Japan Underground" for round reels, offset grips with separate rod blades that emulate Fenwick Champion (Phillipson Bass Tamer, etc.) of the '60-'70s and Fuji grip (Lew's Speed Stick, etc) of the '70s-'80s.   Smith and Glass Eye use 12-mm butt-ferrule dia., the rest use Fuji-std. 9.4-mm butt ferrule.  The grips also come with 3/8" (9.6 mm) vise collet that lets you use vintage US-std. rod blades.  The shops that sell this limited-run tackle concentrate on handmade wood plugs.  

The short rods, 5' to 6' (a few shorter, a few longer) fit right in my river kayak niche, finesse to frogger.  

The limited edition tackle goes from practical to both intentionally silly (AHPL) or ornate, such as Megabass Pagani

Finding what you want means keeping up with limited production runs, or paying Yahoo collector and ebay scalper prices, though low-use rod blades re-sell for fair Yahoo prices. Much of it sells out in pre-release reservation and lottery sales.  The limited-run bench reels are made by Isuzu, Ebisu, and Doryu, and the rods match well with Ambassadeur if you like to bench-tinker.  

[1984isNOW]

@bulldog1935 looks proprietary, I was hoping to buy the recessed grip/reel seat and add my own blank.

 

Pretty sweet though man

[bulldog1935]

@1984isNOW

You can, they sell butt ferrules by ID to match blank butt-OD

The trick is knowing how to buy in Japan - I've used broker noppin.com for 18 years.  

Might be easier to buy butt ferrule and grip from Bright River (through broker)

This is the major production shop for Japan Underground rods, and rolls most of the glass blanks (Tenryu builds the 4-axis carbon blanks).  

https://brightliver.shop-pro.jp/ 

Another vendor for Bright River https://matsuya-web.com/

Again, Smith and Bright river use different butt-ferrule diameter (12 mm vs. 9.4 mm)

 

Smith grips are about $30 cheaper than Bright River, and the ferrule size probably builds a stronger rod.  

https://noppin.com/yahoos/search?translate=1&qand=smith+super+strike+rod

(you can improve Yahoo search results by copying Japanese ideograms and searching those)

If you Contact Masamichi at noppin to talk to yahoo vendor baronfuente, he can probably get you both Smith grip and the Smith ID ferrule size you need.  

https://noppin.com/yahoos/detail/b1171055884 

https://noppin.com/yahoos/detail/h1170801007 

https://noppin.com/yahoos/detail/n1172161738  etc.  

the seller has a brick and mortar shop, I've just never found a link for it.  

Different brick shop with the grips probably has the ferrules, also.  

https://noppin.com/yahoos/detail/t1173493794

Register at noppin, and use Contact Board - works like a pm train, and Masamichi has perfect English.  Send him links for what you want and get a dialogue going.  

Note Japan offset grips are made for Isuzu reel foot - they fit Ambassadeur foot better if you add the reel seat shim:  https://noppin.com/yahoos/detail/j1173671236

(of course you can make your own shim)

 

I consider Masamichi at noppin a friend - both for me and others, he's found stock, answered questions we never could get answered from this side of the pond, and he baby-sat a custom rolled-from-scratch-on-order S-glass inshore fly rod for me.  A broker opens up the 99% rest of Japan that doesn't market direct to US.  Broker fee is about 6%, which he more than earns (also pay Japan tax and domestic post to noppin), then you pay UPS courier from his storage to you.  

If you decide to pursue this, we can take it to pm.  

[Eric 26]

@bulldog1935 Although I’m not sure how comfortable those vampire grips are they sure do look cool in my opinion, but my favorite is still the green and black polka dotted pistol grip from I believe frog products. Feel free to correct me and share the photo if you remember what I’m referring to. 

[bulldog1935]

@Eric 26 long-sold-out Robelson Resion grip made for Headhunters - think it's supposed to represent a dead trout - https://www.headhunters.jp/SHOP/killer-grip.html

Resion grips are a tough find - like Megabass Pagani.  

[1984isNOW]

@bulldog1935

I really appreciate all the info, poking around it looks like they're priced a bit above my head, for just the grip/seat I can't swing that right now.

 

Feel like my best bet is bumping into an old pistol grip speed stick at a garage sale or something. I'd rather not a pistol grip, but beggers and be choosers and I just like the idea of a recessed grip, it looks quite ergonomic.

[bulldog1935]

@1984isNOW 

If you find that Fuji grip, you can use Bright River butt ferrules on a blank to build your own rod blade.  

https://brightliver.shop-pro.jp/?mode=srh&cid=660570%2C0&keyword=&x=17&y=10

8.5- to 14-mm ID  https://brightliver.shop-pro.jp/?pid=126002529

low profile 5.5- to 8.3-mm ID https://brightliver.shop-pro.jp/?pid=126002529

 

 

[Eric 26]

1 hour ago, bulldog1935 said:

@Eric 26 long-sold-out Robelson Resion grip made for Headhunters - think it's supposed to represent a dead trout - https://www.headhunters.jp/SHOP/killer-grip.html

Resion grips are a tough find - like Megabass Pagani.