How do you identify an old Bamboo Fly rod?

bichondaddy

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I was left an old bamboo fly rod by my father, who recently passed away. I am 53 years old, and do not ever remember seeing this fly rod at all. My older brother told me he remember's seeing it when he was a kid in grade school...back in the 1960's and my father told him it was very old and he was never to play with it. When he passed in February, my youngest brother found it in his gun safe, behind all his rifles. My mother does not ever remember seeing it, and thinks it may have been his grandfathers...which would put it somewhere between 75-100 years old...maybe. It was in ametal tube and inside it, the rod is in pieces that you put together. There are two pieces plus two tips for the rod...a long tip that makes the rod probably over 7 feet long, and a tip about a 6-8 inches shorter.
There are no obvious markings on the rod, the tube or the canvas bag...although there is reminents of a label on the canvas bag. How would I go about finding out about this rod? I can post pictures if that would help. The rod seems to be in near mint condition, as it's been in my dad's gun safe for probably over 40 years, and has signs of very little use..if any at all.

Any help would be appreciated. I am not looking to sell it...only trying to identify it.
 

Ard

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Pictures will help, sometimes the cork, reel seat and ferrules will be an aid in identification. If there are no markings at all then the only way I know of is to Mic the sections and determine the taper. Once this is done you need a catalog of rod builders / manufactures and you try to match the taper to a builder. This can be a tedious task.
 

Rip Tide

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It could be that the two tips were the same length to start but one broke and was repaired short.
Better quality rods with no labeling can sometimes be IDed by the style of ferrules, the reel seat, the shape of the grip, and the thread wraps.
Close-up pictures could help

There are some very common Japanese rods that had tips for both fly fishing and spinning, but because yours is in a metal tube, it's likely to be of a better quality than those.
 

bichondaddy

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Thanks...I'll be taking some pictures tomorrow morning and post them. I will take close ups of the areas you are talking about. Like I said....the rod seems to be in excellent condition....very little wear on it at all. As an avid golf club collector of pre-1900 golf clubs...I kinda know what to look for in wear patterns....and I don't see many at all on this rod. But I'll take a mess of pics and post them in the morning. Thanks a million guys. I really am just trying to learn about it, it's origins, & how to care for it. Also...the canvas holder it is in has four compartments for the pieces of the fly rod...so it seems that it came with the four pieces to the rod...if that helps any.
 
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