Help me understand how to read a rod
 

As I look through some posts I see guys referring to rods as
132 3M; gsb1201m; gsb1321m; sb1083m; etc etc. What is the break down on knowing what rod your talking about:confused:? I know that a "gsb1201" is a 10' rod but I don't see the correlation between the description (gsb1201) and what it is...

Depends on the maker of the blank, I would visit their web sites for more info. The blanks you mention look to be lamiglas, in which case a GSB 1201M is as follows:

GSB= graphite surf blank
120= length
1= 1 piece
M= medium action

Here's a couple more; XSRA 1084-2; SUR1266S

I tried breaking it down and I have no clue:confused:.

I'm just trying to get an understanding on all of this.

Lamiglas Ron Arra surf blank

108= 9'

4= the rod's relative power per lamiglas ratings...you need a product guide to get the specs.

2- 2 piece

sur= surf? is this a rainshadow blank?

126= 10'6"

6S= the rod power per manufacturer's specs.

I'm guessing a little more on this one so follow up with a little more research on who makes the blank.

SeaWolf or Saltheart will probably know and can chime in.

SUR= g loomis surf blank.

Can someone shed some light on how the come up with their #s? The 1266 is a 10'6 rod, the S at the end is spinning, the "1266" I have no idea.

126 inches in length, and a 6 power according to whatever formula that Loomis uses for its power ratings--which vary among other models of Loomis rods, let alone with other manufacturers.

Don't sweat all that. If you are like the rest of us you'll own several of each plenty soon enough.

lol we shall see. possibly yes lol. I'm just trying to understand what all of you guys are refering to when posting a rod.

Power rating? what is that?

GSB1201L is a blank designation
(G) The first letter is the materials in this case Graphite
(SB) is the type in this case Surf/Bar, SH-Steel head, LB-Live bait etc
(120) length in inches
(1) most cases number of sections but not always. This case 1 piece
(L) power rating within the Surf/Bar series. Almost useless unless you know the series

XSRA 1084-2 is a rod designation , not a blank designation
(X) IM 7 graphite
(S) spinner
(RA) Ron Arra series
(108) length in inches
(4) this gets complicated --was the 4th rod in the RA series , now its supposed to relate to the power of same length blanks within the RA series..example , the 1321 is more powerful than the 1083 but lighter than the 1322 which is considerably more powerful than the 1083. Yeah I know its AFU'ed.

(2) number of sections

The Loomis rating was described properly by others Sur ---Surf--126 length---6 relative power within the Loomis SUR 126 series---example the SUR 1265 is a "lighter capacity" than the 1266 think of power as related to say maximum weight of the luer you can cast. its complicated because a shorter SUR 965 (96 inch 5 power) will have the same 5 power rating but will not handle the same lure weights as the 1265. (S) is spinner.

So anyway , you need to look at a bunch of rods from each manufacturer to get an idea as to what the code means for each of them. there is no industry wide standard.