Damon+M.

I started building rods this spring after several training sessions with a real pro. Not until you're involved in rod building can you really identify a well wrapped and finished custom rod. The best thing about choosing thread colors on your own rod is the experimentation of finding combinations of colors that you normally wouldnt have thought of. A good rule of thumb if you're going to order a rod is determine the type of reel to be used and pick atleast one color that compliments that reel. (gold metallic trim for Penns / silver or green for Mag Elite, etc) Another thing I tend to favor is to keep it light on the metallics, because they look better as a trim to compliment the regular nylon thread. Here are a few nice color combinations I have used: (all thread is Gudebrod) 1. Garnet over / Black under w/gold trim 2. Dark Green over / gold ht metallic under with Teal in buttwrap 3. Teal over / black under w/silver ht metallic trim. Its nice to have more than three colors in your buttwrap and I tend to use the colors of the guide wraps plus complimentary colors with about 6 to 8 total colors in my buttwraps. A lot of times rarely used colors like brown can produce some very nice looking rods, such as Chestnut over / Garnet under w/pearl trim. Another thing to look for would be the quality of the finish. Excessive bubbles, especially around the guide feet is a sign of sloppy workmanship. Also, look to see if the builder ties his thread off in discrete locations or if he ties it wherever he feels like. You cant really do this when ordering a rod through the mail, unfortunately.