Are You Ready For A Custom Fishing Rod?
You’re Ready For A Custom Fishing Rod If:
You want quality and performance – a rod built especially for you and your style of fishing. You want a rod that is perfectly built and features a striking, attractive appearance – a combination of masterful craftsmanship and thread artistry that sets it apart from anything you could find in an off-the-shelf rod.
You want a rod built by a skilled artisan who cares about his work, his reputation and your satisfaction.
About the Guild
Our Mission: To uphold the Guild’s standards of craftsmanship and aid in the promotion of custom rod building while expanding the art and science of fishing rod building through education.
Why A Custom Rod Builders’ Guild?
We have three equally important goals. First we are here to assist our members, beginners, novice and professional, to learn all they can about how to build an extremely functional and beautiful angling instrument. We accomplish this by providing educational opportunities through this web site. With guild approved basic rod building classes. As well as yearly regional and national rod building conclaves and seminars throughout the United States. Second it is our aim to ensure that all who are interested in purchasing a custom built fishing rod receives a quality, high performance product that is, in every sense of the word, a truly “custom” rod. Our third goal is to support custom rod builders and makers who strive for quality in their workmanship and integrity in their dealings with their customers.
For those who are just learning how to build fishing rods we offer information on how to do specific processes. your questions will be answered by experienced builders who are looked up to in the rod building community. For the hobbyist the guild offers opportunities to learn and improve your skill as well as meet and make friends through the various information available on our web site as well as the regional and national conclaves.
For those of you who are interested in purchasing a custom rod, you can view the Guild as your guide. We will guide you to a group of independent businessmen who have successfully completed an examination and who have had their workmanship juried to confirm their technical skills in order to become a “Guild Certified” rod builder. Working with rod builders who have achieved this coveted certification is our way of assuring you of a talented and capable pool of builders from which to select a craftsman for your next custom rod. We suggest that you check out “about custom rod” to see what custom features and their benefits could mean for you.
For those of you who build fishing rods for sale to the public, we understand the frustrations of promoting your small business. Limited marketing skills and more importantly limited assets frustrate most of our abilities to convert our passion for rod building into a viable occupational opportunity. The guild was formed to help you accomplish this goal by providing, education, promotion and a “certification” that will identify you as a member of an elite group of internationally recognized craftsmen, a “certification” that will impart instant credibility for your accomplished skills. We suggest that you review our membership benefits and carefully consider the many advantages that the Guild has to offer.
Membership in the Guild is $35.00 per annum.
For more information, please Contact Us.
The Custom Rod Builders Guild By-Laws
Membership Benefits of the Custom Rod Builders Guild Inc.
The primary goal of the Guild is to enable its members to become better rodmakers. Guild membership may provide benefits to you not available elsewhere.
The Guild’s Greatest Asset – Its Members
The Guild has over 800 members located across the United States and in several foreign countries. A Guild member is incredibly unselfish with respect to their desire to provide assistance to other members in terms of improving their rod building skills. As a member, you will be able to make contacts both on our website and at our various meetings that could develop into lasting relationships and life long friendships that will not only enhance your skill but provide meaningful personal relationships.
Guild membership can certainly help to accelerate the rapid expansion or your rod building skills.
Demonstrating A Cross Wrap- Terri Cheatham –
The Rod Crafters Journal
As a result of a merger with the former Rod Crafters in 2004, the Guild obtained the privilege of continuing to publish The Rod Crafters Journal. The Journal is in its 40th year of publication and is the oldest rod building publication in the world.
Each issue is not only packed with club and membership activity, but also includes a lot of articles packed with how to information written by some of the premier rod builders in the world.
The Journal is a 44 page magazine published quarterly and a subscription is included as part of your $35 membership fee.
Over 125 back issues are available to members at nominal cost. These issues are packed with information that continues to be important in today’s rod building world. Many of these articles were authored by some of the leading names in rod building.
Conclaves and Regional Meetings
These gatherings are where the “rubber meets the road”. Attended by all skills of builders, their only purpose is to enhance the skills of all those in attendance. Through formal classes and impromptu sessions that develop spontaneously, rodbuilding education occurs for about 16 hours. Special attention is paid to new members and they are made to feel comfortable in this sometimes intense educational activity.
The National Conclave is held once a year, normally in the first part of the year. A policy has been adopted whereby the Conclave location will be moved to various locations around the country in an attempt to bring the Conclaves closer to members on a geographic basis.
The Conclaves have been attended by vendors/suppliers who not only display their products, but also in some cases sell them.
Regional Conclaves are held at various locations and generally provide more hands on building education and in some cases, the opportunity to do some fishing with your fellow members.
Advertising Service
Many of our members earn their livings or supplement their income by building and selling rods. The Guild provides a Rod Builder Locator service whereby people looking to buy a custom rod can locate people in their geographic area for the purpose of buying a custom rod. Fee for this annual listing on the website is $50.
Certification Program
The Guild offers a program whereby certification of rod building skills is certified is granted based on submission of a work piece and a written test.
The purpose of this certification is to verify that the certified member has properly mastered basic rod making skills.
Cost of this certification is $45.00 and a certificate will be sent to the member.
Advertiser Discounts
Some advertisers offer discounts to members.