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Exactly right, in order to match up tapers for tip over butt ferrules you first must have mandrels that will produce what you need then roll your own. In big volume operations such as Graphite rods, its a given, the volume makes up for each piece being rolled to order. However exactly in the same context a guy perhaps making 10 rods of a given taper in a year is not gonna spend a week on the blanks and be able to sell them for what we in the "Glass" community is willing to shell out. Thats just what makes such a rod unique and unusual, and the reason I touched on the subject. When we talk about glass rods, the best ferrule and best considering production costs and the need to roll a single blank or perhaps two to make up a complex taper is once again measured by "cost effective" and the simple fact we in the Glass community, no matter how much we hate to admit it, are not willing to pay the same prices for blanks as those in the Graphite community do on a regular basis.
I prefer single piece rods in short light rods, however mostly fish two piece rods just because most of my favorites are "antique" Phillipsons. However I pack into the Golden Trout Wilderness in early spring when the snow gates are opened, and then its a 3 piece for portability. While I only travel once or twice a year and fishing is always on the agenda, then rods of smaller sections are a must for travel on todays airlines. Frankly in the continental United States I fly Southwest Airlines, they have the lowest fairs, but Ive never been able to convince them to let a fly rod get stored in the crews coat closet, if it won't fit into their little litter box boarding example of a carryon your in trouble, so its mostly an 18" piece limit when I fly their friendly skys.
From a construction standpoint a properly fitted and installed spigot ferrule is stronger than the surrounding hollow rod (simply the solid male ferrule if made from machined fishing rod material is many times stronger than the hollow glass rod), so IMHO the question becomes does a multi piece rod with such spigot ferrules suffer if properly installed.
To be honest I have no idea. Im not a turnament caster, fact is I rarely cast beyond 40 or 50ft and the norm is more like 25 ft. A well designed rod taper that would load all the way to the butt either as a full flex or a progressive taper is still gonna load to the butt under stress. Ive felt no differences in those well made and tapered blanks weither they were two piece or three piece. I have a hard time with a well made rod even telling if its different than a single piece or a two piece with proper glass spigot ferrules. Only in the lightest rods, and that includes my 6ft 7wt Lee Wulff at a 1.7 oz do I definately detect a major difference over the same blank as a 7 1/2ft rod with a ferrule and I contribute that fact to the use of a very long internal SS spigot ferrule. In a rod Ive built but using a glass spigot, on the same blank, I feel nearly none of that dead spot. One reason this winter Im gonna build up a couple of my favorite Phillipson Eponite blanks with glass spigot ferrules and see how they compare to the original rods from Phillipson with NS ferrules.
I guess what Im trying to say in the long way around, I don't think the number of ferrules is the problem as much as the mannor of construction and the ability of the rod maker to have the appropriate taper in the available blank to compensate for the addition of more than one ferrule.
I can see why Tom Morgan used his sleaves to adjust his tapers alot, especially if its a multi ferruled rod. I think its more important to have a continuous taper and flex design avoiding dead spots than it is to select one guideline to the number of ferrules. But here again the rod has to be designed to work with more than one ferrule. Then it has to be built carefully and without defects if its expected to not fail prematurely.
Add it all up, then factor in the number of rod weights, lengths and tapers, and the varity of sections and then divide it by the number of new glass rods and blanks produced each year and Im surprised that today we have the varity we have. Actually we have more varity today available in glass than we did in 1972 in glass rods IMHO.
Richard
btw, I got addicted to good fresh cuban cigars and single malt scotch back in the mid 60s while in Panama taking jungle school in the army. My DI had connections and I did well so we became close friends by the end of the school.
I've kept it down to one cigar once in a while but sense the good single malt is alot easier to come by I have to admit I have at least one each night. I fear the daily bacon and eggs and strong coffee in the morning is worse than the lot, but then I walk alot and so far my lungs are over 100% capacity and my blood pressure and such are all normal, so Im gonna enjoy life while I can, it only gets shorter over the years.
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