Diamondglass?

[jpavoncello]

I'm thinking about snagging a Diamondglass three weight rod and wondered if anyone here has experience with the Diamondglass rods. They seem really well built, have a nice, soft action, but before I drop $$$ on one, wanted to get some feedback.
Thanks
John

 

[salvelinus]

I just checked the Diamondback web site (or absence of it) and they appear to be out of business. I wouldn't buy the rod if I couldn't get warranty work done, unless someone took them over and is honoring the warranty? My buddy has the 7' 3 wt.Scott Fibertouch rod and he likes it a lot, but they list for $495. I tried it out once and it is very nice. It is ideal for small flies on small streams where you are only casting maybe 20-25 feet max. Personally, I had a 7' 3 wt. custom built on a Lamiglas blank for around $200. That particular gentleman is no longer in business but look around here for the S-glass rods. I saw them at the Somerset show some years ago and he does nice work. Price is $299. And you get a warranty. But remember that these rods are very slow so make sure they fit your casting style.

Edit: Cortland bought them, but the Diamondback link on their site is to an Apache server. So I would contact Cortland and see if they would honor the warranty.

 

[OhioOutdoorsman]

I just built a 7' 3wt 3pc diamondglass. The blank came from cortland two weeks ago. It has a reel slow action. Very nice rod.

 

[Padraic]

Very nice work! I'll let you build another just like it for me!

 

[Fredrick]

Nice rod Ohio, do youy save alot of monies when you build your own rod .

 

[OhioOutdoorsman]

Thanks. Went with red, blue, and olive wraps and an orange koa reel seat for "brook trout" theme. Don't know about saving money :lol: , but I definitely can have twice the number of rods for the same amount of money and use better components.

 

[Fredrick]

Is it hard to built your own rod? And if you mess up can it be fixed ? example lets say if you placed a guide in the wrong spot would the rod still be fishable :hammer:
Thanks Fred

 

[OhioOutdoorsman]

Not to hijack this thread, but....

Not hard at all.....but it does take 10-20 hours of effort per rod. Nothing is really undoable, and if you misplace a guide (not really an issue because there are lots of guide spacing charts), it probably would be fishable, but definitely not optimal.

This was my 4th build. I have one more for me in the works and then two for friends.

Here is a link to my first build:

http://www.southeastflyfishingforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13844

 

[Coughlin]

Ohio, nice rod. I've built a few and after sweating through my first found it quite easy. the only unfixable part is gluing in the handle. You have to be sure the reel seat is lined up with where the guides will be or you'll wind up with what Art Scheck referred to as a very expensive tomato stake. But even that's not at all difficult. It's just a matter of finding the guile line and marking masking tape and then aligning the reel seat with the guide marks.

As for saving money, Ohio is right, the real advantage is that you can get quality components like nickel winding checks and fancy wood inserts as well customizing winding colors.

As Ohio wrote, it does take a bit of time, but it's like tying flies. If you like doing it it's time well spent.

I'd recommend Art Scheck's book on flyrod building to anyone interested. It's thorough but like all of his stuff, clearly written.
Coughlin

 

[Fredrick]

Ohio those were some nice illustrations on that link . Do you have anymore pics of you building the rod that you can post ? :-D

 

[OhioOutdoorsman]

Yep, the handle would be very difficult to replace. Depending on the rod, you can save $100-250 per rod and there are lots of blanks (pac bay, batson, tiger eye, etc) that are not avaialable (or at least not advertised as available) through major rod manufacterers. Now that I've gotten into it, I realize that rod manufaturers sometimes cut corners and the fit and finish on some rods leaves something to be desired.

I don't have any more pictures of value from my first build. Check out this link though:

http://www.flyfisherman.com/rodbuilding/

I used Art Schecks book, too and well as a flexcoat video in addition to seeing lots of. Be careful, though, rod building can be very expensive........

Anyway, back to the thread, the diamondglass is the latest effort of mine to find the perfect small stream rod....looking for something that is slow, around 7', loads easily at short distances, and roll casts well. From my intial trip with this rod this AM this rod seems to fit the bill. Had a bit of a comparison test at my local blugill pond this AM with some friends comparing to a 6'6" 3wt G. Loomis GL3, 7' 4wt Orvis Superfine, 7 1/2 ft 4wt Winston IM6, 6' 6" 3wt Scott V2 and this rod. Definitely harder to cast long distances with the fiberglass, but it met of exceeded to ability of the other rods at the other tasks, and was the best of the bunch at turning over flies at short distances.

 

[rckrego]

I know this reply comes late, but my fishing buddy and I (not in the brokeback mountain sense... not that there's anything wrong with that) both have diamondglass rods. I have a 7' 3 wt and he has a 6'6" 4wt. I'd say we both are very pleased. Spent all summer tossin dries with them. Great for a quiet delicate presentation. I fully endorse. You should get one immediately.