I started with Struble reel seats when I started doing rods professionally back in the early 80's. Though I never met Glenn, I felt I knew Juanita as a
personal friend. Her shop manager, Joel Lemke, accompanied her to the Dealer shows in Denver and Salt Lake City the many years I attended them. Joel and I
became friends and his attention to detail and willingness to work with customers tied closely to my same approach, so we hit it off right from the start.
A couple years ago Juanita decided to sell the business but Joel stayed on with the new owners till this summer when he decided to go out on his own. He contacted me in late summer, with his plans for going out on his own, mentioning that he had bought some good computer controlled machines and was ready to do some seats for the industry. He showed me some pictures of what he had done so far and when I got back to my Virginia rod shop in October, I had him send me some samples. At that time he had one uplocking seat somewhat patterned after the Struble U24 seat he had designed for Struble several years ago. He also had several other special seats he had been putting together for folks that he sent me some pictures of. What I was looking for was a nice nickel silver downlocking seat with some really nice impregnated wood inserts. In a matter of a couple weeks he had come with a design and sent me a sample. We made a few changes and finalized on the seats you see in the picture below. There you see his original uplock seat and two of the downlock seats he designed for me. We made further changes to the cork check as you see in the picture. You can see the plain cork check he sent me on the first seats, by looking at rods #41, 65, 66, and 67 on my glass rod catalog page at: http://www.performancefly...m/catalog/glassrods.html
Joel's workmanship is pretty obvious in the fit and finish and polish with the seats you see above and on my catalog page. He attains a level of polish with absolutely spotless knurls along with nicely finished wood inserts. Much of what he has tried to obtain for wood is from drift pieces along the rivers and beaches of western Oregon. Some of those burls are stabilized cedar burl others cherry and maple burls. He also has spalted maple burls and assorted other woods he can tell you about.
I got an email from him yesterday. He talked about black nickel plate and a knurled winding check he was doing for me. He has sold me some aluminum ones so far, that he has nickel plated. Look closely and see if you can tell which of the seats is nickel silver and which is nickel plated aluminum. It is dramatic the weight saving there is with the nickel plated aluminum ones. As you can see the look is almost identical.
Joel's turn around time for special order items for me has been in days and weeks not months like most of the industry. His intent is to stay small enough to deal with customers as friends. I will offer that he has been a friend for many years and I had no doubts of that aspect of his business endeavor from the start. What pleased me so much was his willingness to make changes and do designs that resulted from our combined thinking. Joel is young and enthusiastic and will surely have a good bit of impact on the industry in time. I don't think he has put up a web site yet. He really needs to. He has some nice pictures already. You can contact him at: lemkeconcepts@q.com
No, I don't have a financial or any other connection to Joel other than a long standing friendship and an enthusiastic anticipation for a great working relationship for the forseable future. His workmanship has helped me for years to create a fine rod. I fully expect that to continue and prosper.
Here is a picture of two downlock seats and one uplock seat I used on three rods last week.
Dave Lewis
A couple years ago Juanita decided to sell the business but Joel stayed on with the new owners till this summer when he decided to go out on his own. He contacted me in late summer, with his plans for going out on his own, mentioning that he had bought some good computer controlled machines and was ready to do some seats for the industry. He showed me some pictures of what he had done so far and when I got back to my Virginia rod shop in October, I had him send me some samples. At that time he had one uplocking seat somewhat patterned after the Struble U24 seat he had designed for Struble several years ago. He also had several other special seats he had been putting together for folks that he sent me some pictures of. What I was looking for was a nice nickel silver downlocking seat with some really nice impregnated wood inserts. In a matter of a couple weeks he had come with a design and sent me a sample. We made a few changes and finalized on the seats you see in the picture below. There you see his original uplock seat and two of the downlock seats he designed for me. We made further changes to the cork check as you see in the picture. You can see the plain cork check he sent me on the first seats, by looking at rods #41, 65, 66, and 67 on my glass rod catalog page at: http://www.performancefly...m/catalog/glassrods.html
Joel's workmanship is pretty obvious in the fit and finish and polish with the seats you see above and on my catalog page. He attains a level of polish with absolutely spotless knurls along with nicely finished wood inserts. Much of what he has tried to obtain for wood is from drift pieces along the rivers and beaches of western Oregon. Some of those burls are stabilized cedar burl others cherry and maple burls. He also has spalted maple burls and assorted other woods he can tell you about.
I got an email from him yesterday. He talked about black nickel plate and a knurled winding check he was doing for me. He has sold me some aluminum ones so far, that he has nickel plated. Look closely and see if you can tell which of the seats is nickel silver and which is nickel plated aluminum. It is dramatic the weight saving there is with the nickel plated aluminum ones. As you can see the look is almost identical.
Joel's turn around time for special order items for me has been in days and weeks not months like most of the industry. His intent is to stay small enough to deal with customers as friends. I will offer that he has been a friend for many years and I had no doubts of that aspect of his business endeavor from the start. What pleased me so much was his willingness to make changes and do designs that resulted from our combined thinking. Joel is young and enthusiastic and will surely have a good bit of impact on the industry in time. I don't think he has put up a web site yet. He really needs to. He has some nice pictures already. You can contact him at: lemkeconcepts@q.com
No, I don't have a financial or any other connection to Joel other than a long standing friendship and an enthusiastic anticipation for a great working relationship for the forseable future. His workmanship has helped me for years to create a fine rod. I fully expect that to continue and prosper.
Here is a picture of two downlock seats and one uplock seat I used on three rods last week.
Dave Lewis
