I am thinking about selling this bamboo. I have had it for about 2 years and only “fished” it once. I did some lawn casting too but limited myself as I wanted to restore the rod. Well, I just do not have the space to so such things.
Here is what I know about the rod. It is a 9 foot/ 3 piece/ one tip. All pieces appear to be equal in length and it is exactly the same assembled length as my H-I Governor. I believe this is a Montague but the only marking on the rod is “Western Special”.
The ferrules are really tight, they pop when pulled apart and no clicking while casting. However, the male ferrule on the center piece is cracked. It is still absolutely tight but I quit fishing the rod when I discovered the crack. The winding check also has a crack in it but it is still tight as well. There is some damage to the cork along the bottom end like someone used it for a hook keeper.
The reel seat is the original down locking slide ring type and is in good shape. The guides, tiptop and wraps all appear to be original and are in very good condition. No broken or worn guides to damage a line here. The bamboo appears to have staggered nodes. There is no damage to the bamboo at all. No lamination issues, scratches, cracks, nicks, dings and the finish is in surprisingly good condition.
Warren sent me a spool of beautiful scarlet red silk thread to do the windings and if he doesn’t want it back it will go with the rod. The original windings are in fine shape he sent me the thread for the rebuild I never got done.
Really all this rod needs done to it to be fished right now is that male ferrule replaced. I don’t really have the time or inclination to do it and would rather sell the rod to someone that does. Problem is I have no idea what to ask for the rod as a fair price. If you all can give me an idea what you think the rod is worth that would be a big help to me. It tosses nice loops and distance with a 444 SYLK DT 6WT line.
Nighthawk,
I got a similar rod years ago. It took some time to fix up. Check my notes, go to the main menu and click on “Features” then “Reader’s Casts” then on “Archive of Readers Casts”. Go to the 1st half of 06 and click on “Hand me down rod”. Sorry, I can’t give you a price. But if it is indeed a Montague, they were sold rather inexpensively (around $100). Ron G.
Thanks Ron. I am really trying to remember how much I paid for it. I bought several rods at the same time and didn’t keep detailed records of how much for what rod. I know I paid less than $100 bucks for it. I am thinking I paid like $45-$50 for the rod but cannot remember for certain. Making a profit really is not my goal on it. I’d rather see the rod go to someone that is going to fix her up and fish her. It’s a tad on the heavy side but would make a good large species rod for big trout, musky, bass, steel head and etc… I just want to ask a fair price should I decide to sell it.
Nighthawk
I am no expert and if you want you could post this info and pics on The Classic Rod Forum and get a pretty accurate est. I would say with it being a 1 tip Monty rod w/ cracked ferrule you are in the ball park at $50.00 maybe a little more.
That looks almost exactly like an HI Governor. I’ve actually had three of those and they all look exactly like that…minus the whole “western special” part. I also recall the HI rods having a black bakelite reel seat. I do have other production rods with that same reel seat.
For my 2c’s that looks like one of the production rods (HI, South Bend, Monty, etc), but I can’t seem to find “Western Special” on any of FishnBanjos lists. I have a handful of production rods and they all have similar reel seats and winding checks. Are the ferrules pinned? I can’t remember, but I think that is an important clue. Another clue are the nickel coated brass components. I can’t 100% tell, but that winding check looks coated. I’ve also heard that HI’s varnished over the cork on some of their rods (including the governors), and it looks like that cork is varnished. One final point is that it may have been refurbished. It looks like there is some sticker residue under the western special writing. is that over the varnish, under it, or just some dirt? If its under the varnish that could be leftover from peeled off decal. Again just my 2c’s.
Well you guys got me to really looking hard at this rod. I believe the rod has been refinished. I broke out my tape measure and measured the individual pieces. Both the butt and mid sections measure 37" but the tip measures just lightly shorter at 36 3/8". That lead to a closer scrutiny of the tip.
I am kind of embarrassed to say that I missed the facts that the tip has bright chrome modern guides and tiptop, not blued like the butt and mid sections. Also the wraps are not as highly burnished on the tip, they appear lumpy and not smooth like factory wraps. Wraps on the tip section are darker than the other sections. Take a closer look at the ferrule on the tip section. That ferrule has a different design pattern on it than the other ferrules. I cannot tell for certain if the ferrules are pinned. I also noted a small amount of varnish clinging to the outside of one of the guides on the mid section. I think that all of the rod sections were coated with new varnish. The butt and mid section appear to have been varnished with all of the hardware attached. All of the ferrules and the winding check appear to be plated brass. The words “Western Special” appear to be machine stamped or silk screened ink not a decal. They may have been taped over to protect them during refinish of the rod.
Well, like I said, I am embarrassed that I missed these details. I think the tip is original to this set but it has definitely had new hardware put on it. Now I really do not know how much to ask for this rod. Perhaps I should just hang to this as a project rod. What do you think folks?
Sounds like a good project rod for sure. Being slightly short on the time and a replacement tip it really would not have allot of value on the market. Since the ferrule has a crack anyway Sounds like you could restrip the rod and find an old broken rod to get a new ferrule and a new tip that would match the rest of the hardware.
Here are a couple of photos. It measures 3 1/2" X 6". It was given to me by the folks that handle my IRA, so it says on the cover;
Chuck & Josh Potter
The Simple Wealth Solution for Hard Working Families.
Got your email and am sending you my address. Had a very long day today in this heat and tomorrow is going to be worse. Folks, Lotech and I are both about to become proud new owners.
