A Question for the Darbee/Dette Experts Out There

[Bamboozle]

I know this sounds like splitting hairs but I am planning on tying some Quill Gordon's for some friends as part of an annual fly swap ritual. I want to tie them as closely as possible to either the EXACT Gordon recipe or the version tied by Harry Darbee or Walt Dette. Unfortunately when I had the pleasure of meeting Harry & Walt way back when I was young & dumb; I was too stupid to buy a few flies.

In any case I know the important stuff but I have two simple but nit-picky questions regarding thread color & ribbing. Again I am trying to find out the preference of Theo, Harry, or Walt:

• #1 - I've seen recipes saying black, cream, or yellow thread, so far. Does anybody know what color the representative tyers used?
  
  #2 - To rib or not to rib the quill body? If so, did any of the three tyers do it and if so did they use wire or thread and what color.

I realize that many may think it is stupid to worry about such trivial matters and on normal flies I don't worry so much; but to me half the fun of tying a classic fly is trying to do it with accuracy in regards to color & construction.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer!

[mr. blur]

I'm willing to bet that none of the three ribbed the quill body. never seen a recipe for a quill gordon that listed a rib.

[Royal Wulff]

RW here,

black thread

extra fine gold wire.

It should be noted that the extra fine gold wire ribbing was only suggested to protect the delicate peacock quill.

Later, RW

[mr. blur]

suggested by whom?

[caddis16]

According to the "Complete Book of Fly Tying" by Eric Leiser, Dette used white silk thread to criss-cross the quill body then coated it with spar varnish. Supposed to make the white silk disappear.
I just coat my quill bodies with flexament.

[Hans Weilenmann]

Bamboozle,

This is as close as I can offer to a Walt Dette version of the Quill Gordon - a QG tied by Mary Dette. Might offer you some insight:

http://www.danica.com/flytier/mdette/quill_gordon.htm

Regards,
Hans W

[ashbourn]

The Dette's always used white thread. The varnish on the body makes it so hard to see unless you have Hans take a picture of it. The hackle and tail are dark dun, not black looking. Han's photo shows the color very well. Also pick the quill that has a very clear dark edge and a very clear almost white edge.
I have seen alot of Darbee's Quill Gordons that were ribbed with wire.
Mr. Gordon also ribbed his with wire as did many others of the time. The down side to this is the extra weight, but something needs to help protect the quill. The rib can make this fly last a very long time where even the most well varnished ribless body will only last a few fish most of the time.
Joe Fox

[Jim Slattery]

Ahh Joe what do you know
What Joe said...straight from the source.

[Bamboozle]

Thanks all for the info and thank you Hans for the picture. I hope to do the pattern justice.

I have to add a story to all of this. When Mac Francis wrote the book "Catskill Flytier" with Harry in the 1980's I wanted to meet Harry to get him to sign my book and chat with the master. I took a bus from NYC, (my home) to Roscoe to "find" Harry's shop.

Walking along the road I spied Walt's place and figured that was it. When I asked Walt, "are you Harry Darbee" he wasn't too pleased with my ignorance. I guess he delighted in the fact I now had that long walk up the hill on that frigid February day to meet the correct Harry Darbee.

When I found the place after a long walk I spent several hours chatting with Harry like a starstruck kid. Like I said before I didn't have the sense to get some flies from him or Walt. Unfortunately Harry passed away just a short time later.

[Hans Weilenmann]

Bamboozle,

You may be interested to check out these too:

http://www.danica.com/flytier/wwdette/wwdette.htm

Cheers,
Hans W