It's been some time since I've had a conversation with Trey about their rods. What was the time frame when you heard the news about Kistler's intent on rolling their own blanks?montey wrote: βWed Jan 15, 2020 4:26 am
I seem to remember Kistler saying they were going to be coming back with new blanks they were making themselves. However the way they wording it it seems unclear if NFC is making the blanks, or Kistler are buyig the material from them and they are rolling them...
I ask because before the advent of North Fork Composites, Kistler was indeed intent on rolling their own as a way of taking matters into their own hands after inconsistent results from overseas suppliers. Once the relationship and partnership with Gary Loomis and North Fork Composites was struck, and Z-Bone was born, they slowly revamped their entire lineup with blanks sourced from NFC.
I didn't realize the Heliums are now on yet another blank but it wouldn't surprise me if true based off of all the difficulties I've been reading TT members have been having with Edge Rods which is the rod building arm of NFC. I can't speak to the price increases but I can surmise it probably has to do, at least in part, with the rise in material costs.
Kistler specs some lively actions. The difficulties they've encountered have all stemmed from blank suppliers. Rogue Rods was the source of the original Heliums and something happened to sour that relationship. I'm not aware if Rogue is even around anymore. Once that happened, Kistler, like 90% it seems of the rod industry, went overseas. That's when all the breakage issues occurred and nearly took them down. Then NFC happened and things turned around.
I was hopeful they were going to be able to create their own blank factory because we need more competition based in North America, but rolling your own blanks is a lot harder than it seems. Obviously or else we would have more than three? Maybe there is more, but I can only think of Loomis, St. Croix and NFC.