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Rod Building & Repairs in Manchester !

Where you can see regular shots of reel servicing as it happens ! well, nearly ;)

But you do get to see what the innards of your reels really look like, before and after one of my thorough services which are still ONLY £15 PER REEL ! 

That's LESS THAN HALF  of what Tackle Box charge, cheaper than Felindre
and Shimano's own service department and Daiwa's !

See for yourself how thorough my servicing is and why people come back to me time after time and bring me the reels other people WON'T SERVICE !

Plus you can see examples of my rod building work and customisations and bespoke work such as handle conversions, rebuilds, re-whipping, replacing broken chipped rings and fixing breaks on rods, poles and reels !

Latest handle conversions from cork to full duplon !


And MORE !!!

 Recent posts  . . . . . . . . .

Harrison 12' 6'' Ballista rebuilds  . . . . . . . .

Wilson signature series handle conversions  . . . . . . . .

 

From full cork to full duplon  . . . . . . . . . 

And repairs to even the oldest of big name natch reels from days gone by!
Mitchell match 440a baffle plate repairs  . . . . . . . . 

Some new additions to the hand made swingtip range !

Some lovely new swingtips just off the twirly swing tip machine in the shape of 8'' fibreglass with twin flouro coloured bands & they look great ! Possibly by best to date and no increase in price either ! Check out the images below and also the new 10 '' Carbon fibre adjustable weight swing tips which are fantastic!

 

 Great new flouro thread colours for better visibility !

 

The bottom ring is also now done in matching thread colour and looks great ! 

 The new colours are brighter and look great in their ' twin band ' format !

Each swing tip comes with it's own set of 3 proper swing tip rubbers and an adapter, still post free !


The new adjustable weight swing tips are a superb addition to the range
and cover just about every condition you might come up against on a session!

Again, made with a matching ring whipping colour to the tip.  
 

 

At 10'' long these adjustable swing tips are perfect for those larger waters 

and anywhere that is open to the elements or catches the wind, the adjustable weight is around 5grams and can be positioned anywhere from right up to the single leg ring, meaning it has virtually no effect on the tip for very sensitive bites, or slid all the way down to combat tow on the water and choppy waves. 

 

Each swing tip comes with its own set of 'proper' Trev Tomlin style swing tip rubbers in light, medium and heavy strengths, plus a screw in adapter. 

 

You can see just how much adjustment you have along the length of the swing tip in this image, possible more adjustment than any other tip that's been sold in the UK, and don't forget, these tips are all individually HAND MADE  in the U.K

with pride ! 

A new addition to my custom made range..............

After quite a few requests and some consulting with a few folks over design and spec's I have started making some butt bite indicators, another great little indicator for those occasions, such as windy days, or really tight swims for example, when fishing a swing-tip isn't as practical.

Measuring about 10'' overall, but based on an 8'' blank as my 'standard size'  swingtips are, this is a tidy looking little bit of kit.

The rod clips are black plastic coated sprung steel and come in 3 sizes, 6-10mm, 10-14mm & 12- 16mm, covering virtually any coarse fishing rod, and can be fished down or up the rod.

 The fibreglass blank is smooth finished with a 12mm ceramic lined single leg ring whipped on to the end, giving easy line passage for casting and smooth bite indication with little friction. The coloured end is approx' 45mm long and whipped in rod building thread for brightness and long lasting colour, it is triple whipped and coated in 3 coats of rod building epoxy to add some weight to the tip for stability to combat wind and wave motion, without compromising bite sensitivity.

The single leg 12mm ring has a  ceramic center that will last a lifetime with any type of mono or braid.


Available from ebay here: Butt bite indicators on eBay UK  or directly from me
by copy/pasting this link into your browser: paypal.me/rodbuilder/14.99
don't forget to let me know which colour you want, available in bright red, bright orange & bright yellow.

Reel servicing including return courier delivery !

 2017: Mail order reel servicing & prices.

As I've been offering this for a while now I thought it best to update the site with some details for those of you that are not - so - local to Manchester !

You can purchase services through ebay !
(see my listings here: My Current eBay listings  )
 
You of course, have paypal's guarantee that your payment is secure whichever way you decide. So it works like this:

1. You purchase a 'buy it now' for the amount of reels you want
serviced by using the drop down menu on eBay.

2. You send your reels to me using a service of your choosing. (try parcel2go for prices)

Send to: D Kelly. 19 Strathmere Ave. Stretford. Manchester. M320DR.
 (Callers by appointment please phone)

3. I service the reels, pack them and send them back to you, within 7
days, usually returned using a signed for courier service.

The prices are for servicing ONLY and do not include parts.

I use a signed for courier service which  requires that you sign for it.
The return time is normally 2 working/weekdays, you will be provided
with tracking information for your parcel. Upon receiving your reel(s) I
would generally be able to turn them around for you in 7 days,
please try to allow for this, if I can do them quicker I will, if you
want to check, ring me before ordering. 07784 100 752


To Pay: Simplest way is to either buy through eBay or just call text or email me with your PayPal email address and I'll send you an invoice.

Reel servicing prices August 2016

Reel servicing prices for the remainder of 2016:

An ever so slight increase and simplification, all reel servicing is now back to £15 per reel regardless of quantity, mail order prices will be staying as they are as they are already slightly higher with postage etc so I will include a link to my ebay listing below.

This is still half the price of places like Tackle Box at Sutton, and I can guarantee I do as thorough a job as Daiwa's or Shimano's own service departments !

I service, ALL the old Shimano Baitrunners and Daiwa big pit reels that Shimano and Daiwa now don't !

Every reel is stripped, cleaned, inspected, re-oiled and re-greased and re-assembled . . . . .  all for £15 ! If you live in the north west you'll also be lucky enough to drop them off and benefit from NO POSTAGE!

I am situated 2 minutes from the old Trafford angling shop, if you shopped there you will likely know me ! 5 mins from the M60 junction 7 and 5 mins from the Intu Trafford Centre. I will give you my details when you make an appointment.



 Each reel, stripped down and cleaned thoroughly. . . . . . . .

 

 All bearings are removed, cleaned and inspected before going back in. 

 

 All gearing is removed, cleaned thoroughly and inspected for signs of wear before the reel is re-assembled.

Drag washers are also removed and de-greased and dried/inspected and re-greased before re-inserting back into the spool. 

Once reels are re-assembled and ready to collect I will get in touch and arrange a suitable day or evening for you to collect. I accept payments by cash, paypal or bank transfer,

New swing tips and my custom drying adapter !

Well folks, due to demand and an upsurge in the popularity or resurgence of swing tip fishing seemingly creeping back into fashion of late, I decided to do a bit myself ! After just a couple of sessions I decided it was time for a new tip and set about knocking one up for myself incorporating some rod building technology !

Having made some of these up over the years for friends and seeing a distinct lack of decent kit available I made up a few extra and did a few listings on eBay and a few other sites, Tackle Trader UK and Manchester Gumtree 
well, the phone didn't stop ringing after a week !

Loads of feedback too, people actually ringing me up saying it was the best swing tip they'd ever seen! Super stuff, made my day, that's not something  that usually happens a lot these days !

And they came out like this  . . . . . . .

These are the 'close range' version with just the tip eye for maximum sensitivity and short flicks and underarm casts where you're not likely to tangle, as a bit of a general rule you don't 'need' a second or intermediate eye on a swing tip, they are kind of traditional, but not 'essential' as a rule. I do offer both versions though. For longer distance fishing people tend to like them with the second ring, to be fair all you need to do is what I do, just pull on the line with your spare hand before casting, if it's not free you know where the problem is!

There will be three sizes in the 'range' 6'', 9'' and 12'', the latter having 2 small single leg rings and the 6'' and 9'' available as either a tip ring only model or with 1 small single leg up near the top of the tip.

Price wise they are between £10 and £18, and come supplied with a set of 3 'proper' swing tip rubbers that you may have seen many moons ago marketed as the Trev Tomlin brand (remember the catapults) in a light/medium/heavy format and of course, a threaded swing tip adapter.

They are of course, hand built, bespoke, you won't find them in the shops and yes I do send them out if you're not local, P+P is include in the prices and you can find them on ebay more often than anywhere else. You can pay by paypal, and you can pay me directly without having to go through ebay, just browse my listings, pick one and send me the money through paypal (plus a message with your details) either as a gift, or using my paypal.me link and just adding the amount to the end, so if a tip was £12.99, you would put this in your browser:

www.paypal.me/rodbuilder/12.99


You can find my current items for sale on my ebay page :

Dave's items for Sale: eBay.co.uk


Here's a hot video of some new stock drying off on my newly made adapters that fit my rod drying racks ! Riveting stuff !  You'll love it  . . . . . . 

North Western Blanks 12ft 1 3/4lb Carbon Kevlar refurbishment

 I recently had a blast from the past dropped off, namely as titled, a North Western Blanks 12ft 1 3/4lb Carbon Kevlar carp rod that'd seen better days........

Looking battered and disheveled,  this had been coloured many years ago and spray painted, then finished in what I can only guess was yatch varnish, not a bad way of doing things back in the day, but modern day resins and epoxy's take some beating for clarity and durability. Here's a few 'before' shots showing the damage/wear and tear  . . . . . . ..

From a distance it didn't look that bad..........

However . . . . . . .  close up was another story . . . . . . .

So a total strip down was on the cards, back down to bare blank, first by blade, then by various grades of wet and dry until it was smooth as the proverbial baby's, and clinically cleaned with acetone!

 

Once prep'd I was able to then re-finish the blank in a clear hard wearing modern resin, to get it in shape for the next stage when the rings go back on, as the blank and resin needs a day or two curing time, the 'after' shots will come in another post, but for now, this is the current state of the build............... 

More shots to follow in about a week ;)