Google hits on “cheap bamboo rod China”

Published at June 17, 2007 in bamboo and soap box. 0 Comments

Yes, apparently there are a few people out there who don’t really care what they buy,

that or hopefully they are trying to research a purchase. I try to check the logs to see what

brings people to this site and some of the hits are quite interesting. This one keeps showing

up though and it bothers me. There has been a lot of talk over the past week on the

Rodmakers list about an email sent to Bruce Herndon of A.B. Herndon Rod Co.

He received an email recently from a rod company in China that exports bamboo fly rods

and thought because he had a website selling bamboo rods (the ones he makes with his

own blood sweat and tears) that he would sell theirs. Perhaps they misunderstand that he

is not a distributor of imports, that he IS the manufacturer. Or maybe they were just hoping

to find someone to sell their soul. Diamondback did this for a couple of years and the result

was a fiasco. I have heard many complaints that some of the rods are being passed off as

 being made by well known American bamboo rod makers. A. J. Thramer has had some

rods returned to him with problems, and you can only imagine the expression on the poor

schmuck’s face who was told he bought a cheap, fake piece of junk and he wasn’t going to

fix it. You can imagine what a poor quality rod with the name of a well know maker on it

can do to that person’s reputation. What’s worse is the companies that are distributing them

in the U.S. are making a killing on markup. Try 600 percent markup! The average bamboo

rod currently being produced in the U.S. takes approximately 40-70 hours of labor to make.

That is just labor. Take in to account parts, supplies, machinery and equipment, space,

utilities, and many other expenses that come with running a business and rod makers

generally just barely turn a profit. You can read the email Bruce received on his website

here. If you really want a bamboo rod, and can’t part with $1000+ then I suggest finding

a good used Granger or Heddon bamboo rod that will be comparable in price and head and

shoulders above them in quality. That or find someone with a two or more year waiting list

and make your down payment and then you would have two years to pay it off.

 

Thank you Scott! You said it well.( Please visit Scott's site www.perlcraft.com for more

useful information on fly fishing and related topics.