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    Carbon Fiber Slant Bridge Tribute
from Stan McLean  
7/17/2012 10:31:23 AM

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Here is one I've been thinking about building for a few years and I finally got around to building it. A very nice guy traded me a broken Megabass slant bridge that I based this off of (thank you). I made mine out of Carbon Fiber. I used a North Fork HM blank, Fuji ACS reel seat which I cut down. The handle is very comfortable and really shines when fighting a fish. Thanks. Stan Shakedownrods.com

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   so why? from MikeF  7/17/2012 1:12:43 PM
 Nice work and an interesting shape but why would there be any benefit to doing it that way?

   Reason from Stan McLean  7/17/2012 11:20:43 PM
 Couple of reasons: Megabass put them on $500 rods they said to aid in the fighting of fish. The butt being lower than the rest of the blank does fit more naturally under your forearm. It doesn't seem like that would be true but after using the grip it does seem to give you more control. The benefit is sort of like a spiral wrap over conventional or micro guides over standard guides, every little bit helps.

Another reason is because I thought it looked cool and I've never seen a homemade version.

Thanks Stan

   Be fun from Bender, MS Gulf Coast  7/18/2012 7:53:58 AM
 to turn in a power wrapper or find the spline on. LOL!

   since it's for bass I'll go with "It's cool" from MikeF  7/18/2012 10:27:55 AM
 Lol

   Hmmmm from Fisherboy #10852 #10852  7/18/2012 1:39:40 PM
 The guys over on Tackle Tour will eat this thing up. It's right up their JDM / snobby-tackle alley. Likek the bareback handle, I'm pretty sure it's the first homemade slantbridge ... at least the first one posted. Good job Stan!

I have some questions, which would venture into your trade secrets, so I'll keep them to myself.

I'm pretty sure Stan wrapped and finished the guide before adding the slant/extention. Because it's hard enough to wrap a Loomis with a 15 degree offset let alone a slant bridge.

By the way, no one ever accused me of being a nice guy, but that's the first time I ever took a hacksaw to a perfectly good rod.

In trade, Stan inlayed an awesome set of grips for one of my wife's rods. I may need to order another set this winter at regular price ... it's worth it.

   Some amazing work from FontanaFinesseMan  7/18/2012 3:38:52 PM
 Stan you do some amazing things in the rod build world! This is cool looking rod!

   Maybe FB... from Funky  7/18/2012 4:19:36 PM
 but the reel has to have $200 full ceramic bearings and a set of $300 carbon matrix mother-of-pearl handles!

Looks good Stan, and I'm sure it does give you more control... less torque of the rod trying to rotate 180º.

   Thanks from Stan McLean  7/19/2012 12:28:44 AM
 I appreciate the nice words, thank you.

No trade secret, I don't even own a power wrapper, everything is hand wrapped. It was fun to watch the rod turn on the dryer though lol.

TT wouldn't let me post pics, couldn't figure out why, probably because I don't post much oh well.

Thanks again. Stan

   interesting... from George Roth #13563 #13563  7/22/2012 3:34:33 AM
 I've kind of been out of the loop for a bit and hadn't seen this before. I'd be interested in learning more about the pro's / con's before attempting to build one, even though you did address it to some extent. Bugger putting it into the rod locker too, I'd bet! Nice job, Stan! Glad that you are still in the rod building world, pushing the envelop...or rear grip as it would appear!

   George from Stan McLean  7/22/2012 9:21:13 AM
 Good to hear from you and glad you are feeling better. Mostly this was built to be cool and the small benifits in comfort and fish fighting take a back seat to the coolness lol. I figured if Megabass can build one and charge mega-dollars for one I could build my version for a lot less.

Thanks again for the nice words.

Stan

   cool.... from George Roth #13563 #13563  7/23/2012 8:51:12 PM
 Stan...you are most welcome. It is cool looking but would need to have one in my hand to see how it feels. How did you get the bend in the handle? Home remodeling has kept me off the boards for some time. It is easy to fall behind when you guys are constantly pushing the envelop!

   Handle from Stan McLean  7/25/2012 9:53:57 AM
 George I made a mold and then put the carbon fiber over it. The internet is full of advice for making carbon fiber parts. Then it was some trial and error, had to make 3 before I was happy with the outcome.

Thanks. Stan