Welcome to Delaware Valley Tackle's custom rod shop. Our philosophy is that a custom rod is first and foremost a tool that should perform at the highest level. This accomplished through a painstaking process that simply cannot take place in a mass production atmosphere.

First, the correct blank must be chosen. It must be of the optimum composition, length, power and action to perform the task for which it is intended. We search among many top manufacturers such as St. Croix, Batson, North Fork Composits and Sage just to name a few, for the perfect blank to recommend for each build.

 The grip must be of the material, length, shape, size and style to suit the application and preference of the angler. We hand shape grips from AAA grade cork, EVA or hypalon. Grips can be classic shapes such as cigar, full wells, half wells or new split-grip design. Grips are individually sized to fit the anglers hand. Inlays of colored cork, wood or foam can be used to create custom decorative designs. The grip is then matched to the reel seat type and style of choice.

Guides are selected considering ring and frame material, size and color. They are placed through the painstaking process of "Static Deflection" in which the rod is placed under load and the guides are placed along the curve. This maximizes casting as well as fish fighting ability of the rod.

Once the components have been selected, customization options are decided. These can include themes, thread wrap colors, inscriptions, marbling, decorative wraps, decals, trim and much more. We are limited only by our imaginations

STATIC TESTING:

The running guides on a rod need to be placed correctly to distribute the stress of the loaded rod accross the length of the blank resulting in maximum fish fighting power and deadlift capacity. Static Testing is the process used to accomplish precise guide placement. The blank is incrementally loaded while line is threaded through the guides. Each guide is repositioned from tip to butt until the line flow matches the rod bend. This fine tuning is time consuming and not practical in a mass production setting.

SPINNING ROD DESIGN

Guide size and placement has an especially pronounced effect on spinning rods. We choose among the most up to date methods of guide layout such as 27x, Fuji's KR Concept and the MicroWave Guide System to achieve the ultimate layout for each set of circumstances.

MICRO GUIDES

Use of the smallest, lightest guides that will pass necessary leaders, knots and connections and withstand projected stress helps the blank to retain as many of its inherent traits as possible. This results in exceptionally sensitive and crisp rods. "Micro"  is a term referring to a range of guide sizes from 5.5  all the way down to one. As a point of reference, a standard modern bass rod typically uses size 6 running guides. A size 4 is about as small as I usually use and will easily pass a well tied Albright Knot joining 50# braid and 15# mono.

SPIRAL or "ACID" WRAP

 A Spiral Wrap is a guide placement method used on some casting rods in which the guide train starts on top as usual and then transitions to the bottom of the blank similar to a spinning rod. This allows the line to flow along its natural course and results in a more stable rod when under load. Spiral wrapping often allows for the use of one or two fewer running guides which improves sensitivity as well. Clients that have chosen this option almost always become converts.