The white butt cap has a Short recessed cork tang underneath it and the short cork butt is glued to a metal piece forming a butt grip. The bottom of the metal reel seat has what we call a trigger which helps in holding the rod and in casting since the rod is known as a “plug” rod designed for casting artificial lures or using bait.
The screw at the top of the reel seat is designed to hold the reel on to the rod. The top part of the reel seat/fore grip is screwed on the to reel seat and makes it detachable.
The rod is solid fiberglass. There were several vendors back then some made solid all white solid glass and others made see-thru green glass like the one in your picture. Both blanks were near indestructible they were just heavy compared to today's feather light blanks of IM6,7,8,10 and experimental 12 grinds.
We use a lot of IM 6,7,8, and are experimenting with IM 10.We have not gotten into IM12 yet but likely will.
It looks like your white ceramic guides were wrapped with varieagated thread and the top is ceramic as well.
Most all guides with inserts are ceramic. It's just a matter of what grade they are, alum.oxide,several grades,hardaloy(now discontinued)alconite,variations of SIC and so many it boggles the mind.
The white ceramic on your rod is one of the first introduced and is considered the bottom of the grades.
Hard to say how old this is although the first ceramic guides came out in the 70’s my guess is your rod is older than that and may have been re -wrapped somewhere along the line.
Thanks! Much of that I knew / deduced, but several things in the terminology I didn’t know so well, or had heard called a variety of things, mostly by non-pros. :-)
I have literally never heard anyone refer to a rod “tang”, even on fishing forums. Maybe I’m hanging around the wrong people... (Joke!)
The grip I have heard referred to as a “trigger grip”.
The recessed reel seat - this is part of the “tang”?
The fiberglass is very translucent (some might call it “clear”; the greenish tint is the background showing through it.)
The guides are not white - that’s an artifact of the photo. I think they are just steel - I’ll try to get a “macro” pic for you. No inserts.
I suppose the latter is not critical, since, as you say, these fiberglass rods are pretty tough.* I tend to like that, as they are less easily damaged in transport, particularly - like getting caught on something when hiking in through woods or brush. OTOH, I have enough rods now, mostly 2 piece more in the middle of the rod, that go in my carry cases, that snagging them on a branch or tall grass or “whatever” is less of a concern. THIS rod’s “op” section is too long for any of my rod carry cases, so, use will be confined to easier hike / walk-ins. I’m trending toward more of those these days anyway... :-(
That said, I actually do have a SOMEWHAT similar fiberglass rod that has a 5+ inch long “split” starting about 7” down from the tip. When I pointed this out to the seller at a yard sale, he gave me the whole combo, which includes an old Zebco 202 that looks to be, with a cleanup / relube / new line, quite serviceable, for free. :-)
Back to THIS rod — I guess the printing on the rod including the script has not “rung a bell”? My main goal here is to try to find out who made this, and any specs, such as recommended line weight.
Thanks again!