Mustad's Alpha code

[Clay]

I know that we had a nice long thread when the number system changed and I was one of those guys that really liked the proportial changes in the Signature line. I don't think that Mustad has to take a back seat to any hook manufacturer with the Signature line.

Today I am on their web site. They have some nice tying videos even though they are few. I was reading the alpha code explaination and found myself frustrated. You can find it here: http://www.mustad.no/products/premiu..._alphacode.htm

They start off with an R50 as standard diameter and standard Length. An R30 is 2X light for hook wire diameter. OK fine. A R70 is 2X heavy standard length. Fine with me. A R72 is 2X heavy and 2X extra long, still cool. So first digit is hook wire diameter and the second digit is length, right - wrong.

A R48 is 2 times short and is standard wire diamter. With how things were going I would think that an R48 would have been 1X fine for wire and 8X long for length, but now they subtract 2 from the two digits of 50 and say a R 48 is 2X short. So much for the logical progression.

Someone could have come up with some kind of simple numbering system if they were going to change the world around that was easier to understand for this simple guy.

So if you get it, explain it to me? Maybe I need more coffee this morning.

Rick

[Fatman]

Truthfully I don't worry about it!!! I'm not that much of a purist and never will be.

Fatman

[Clay]

No purist here. I don't care that they changed the line. I actually think that the signature changes made a lot of sense with the proportional consistencies. I just wish that they made the numbers as consistent as they did the hooks.

Rick

[SonOfMartin]

Did you see this? I printed it out ....helped me.

http://www.mustad.no/products/premiu..._50x70_scr.pdf

[Joe Billingsley]

I agree, Clay. I really like Mustad hooks, but how could you expect a reasonable new numbering system from a company whose old system had, for example, 9671 for a 2x long hook, 9672 for a 3x long, and all those other strange numbers for the various hooks.

Joe

[Clay]

Again, no problems with making the changes - they made more sense. The numbers are just plain goofy. Sometimes the first digit is wire diamter, sometimes not, sometimes second digit is length, sometimes not. Frustrating.

Thanks for the chart, I saw it on the website. I like the new hooks. I should just quit trying to make the numbers make some kind of sense to me.

[Cold]

It's not really that bad. I mean, when was the last time you saw a 1X fine 8X long hook?

Try to keep in mind that hooks (generally) dont get shorter than 2x or 3x short, or longer than 4x long. When you get a length digit of 8 or 9, its a shortie, when its -2, -3, or -4, its a long one.

Example: Their normal streamer hooks are 2x heavy, 4x long...R74. Egg hooks are C67S...high last number (7) means a short one. 2x heavy, 3x short. (The C is for curved shank, the S for straight eye). Long curved nymph hooks (formerly 80050BR) are C53S: std. thickness, 3x long.

For me, I MUCH prefer 'R74' to 79580 and C53S to 80050BR.

If we had hooks 5x or more long or short, yeah, it'd be a huge problem, but taking a moment to envision the hook will help sort things out.

[Clay]

It's not really that bad. ...

Example: Their normal streamer hooks are 2x heavy, 4x long...R74. Egg hooks are C67S...high last number (7) means a short one. 2x heavy, 3x short. (The C is for curved shank, the S for straight eye). Long curved nymph hooks (formerly 80050BR) are C53S: std. thickness, 3x long.

For me, I MUCH prefer 'R74' to 79580 and C53S to 80050BR.

....

Agreed it's not that bad if it was consistant. Even in your example lets looks at the C67S vs. That number should be 1X light by 2X long. The number acording to their own discription should be a C77 if you use the high numbers for short shank. Maybe I'm just easily confused. Like I said, I should just quit trying to understand and tell myself who cares, but then they come out with an Alpha explaination that doesn't explain and ... UG!

OK, I'll get over it now and move forward.