I stumbled across a W&M All American 5ALA, 8' 6wt this afternoon and fell in love with the wraps. This rod is from about 1954 and looks to be in very
nice condition. Finally! A 6 wt.
photo by jgestar Very early Fenwick FF84 |
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Wright & Mcgill All American
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 cofisher |
Wright & Mcgill All American |
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Posts: 1113 (11/15/08 14:47:03) Administrator
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graewolf |
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Master Guide
Posts: 280 (11/15/08 16:31:05) |
Wow! Howard, you are a wizard at finding one great W&M rod after the other. This one is a beauty and I really like those wraps too.
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wacokid54 |
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Master Guide
Posts: 323 (11/15/08 20:15:19) |
schweeeeeet!!! Well done. Will it make a good trout rod? Did you get a good deal in your "stumble"??
dennis |
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cofisher |
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Posts: 1116 (11/15/08 22:06:08) Administrator
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Dennis this should be a good trout rod. It cost me $13 plus shipping. My Christmas has come early.
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Duff |
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Master Guide
Posts: 345 (11/15/08 23:23:42) |
Thats a beautiful rod, Howard. What a great looking old decal, and it's always nice to have that wonderful reel seat.
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flynbird |
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Master Guide
Posts: 130 (11/16/08 00:12:01) |
That is an awesome rod cofisher! Excellent find. I like everything about that rod.
Good stuff, Thom |
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Arctic Grayling |
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Master Guide
Posts: 129 (11/16/08 01:44:27) |
Interesting! I have an All American that is a 8'6" No. 3A. Mine has a burgundy metal reel seat instead of the Granger reel seat. It has the Granger
green wraps that are almost chartreuse. It doesn't have any markings to indicate the line weight, but it is pretty heavy so it has to be at least a seven
weight.
It is also interesting that the label has an eagle and copyright 1935 W&M, Co. I'm not sure why that is there since that is before the Wright & McGill Rod Company existed and it doesn't have the classic Granger reelseat. Looking at Cofisher's rod again it looks like his has the copyright with a 1930 date. How can that be? There must be something on these rods that Granger had copyrights on from 1930 and 1935.
Last Edited By: Arctic Grayling
11/16/08 01:47:36.
Edited 1 times.
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graewolf |
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Master Guide
Posts: 281 (11/16/08 08:01:27) |
I think it's time for you maybe to think about a W&M recovery program? Maybe you could be in and out before Christmas?
Good job, bro. Mike |
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cofisher |
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Posts: 1117 (11/16/08 11:39:43) Administrator
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Artic Grayling: Actually Wright & Mcgill was founded in 1925 and as I'm sure you are aware, built Granger bamboo rods until 1952 as fiberglass stepped
forward as the material of choice. The All American series, I believe, were their first fiberglass offerings. The All American 5A came in a 6DT and a 7DT
model. The 6DT was designated 5A 8LA. I'm only guessing, but I would suggest that perhaps the 5A was the 7Wt with the Aluminum reelseat and green wraps. Or
perhaps it is from another year. WM did this quite often as I mentioned in the Green Hornet thread.
The copyright question is easily answered as they copyrighted the patented Granger reelseat for their bamboo rods 20 years before fiberglass. The information above was taken from "Wings Upon The Water, A Fisherman's Legacy" by Lee McGill and the 1954 Wright & McGill catalog. The exciting thing for me is that I have really nice examples of most of W&Ms earliest fiberglass rods. I'm still missing a few including an old Sweetheart and I don't count the Eagle Claws. 
An old family portrait of a few of my rods: Granger Special, Trailmaster, Ambassador, Holiday, Symbolic (Eagle Claw), Sunrise, 3A, Sweetheart (Eagle Claw)
Last Edited By: cofisher
11/16/08 11:48:54.
Edited 1 times.
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Arctic Grayling |
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Master Guide
Posts: 131 (11/16/08 14:51:20) |
Yes, but wasn't the early Wright & McGill company (1921) (Incorporated in 1927) only producing fishing tackle? When they leased and then purchased the
Granger facility after WW II they created a new company called the Wright & McGill Rod Company (1946) with McGill running the new company. Their first
fiberglass rods were produced in 1952.
In 1932 Wright & McGill did offer a line of bamboo rods but they did not manufacture them and they were only offered for one year. I wouldn't think that they had any patent or copyright rights from that. Your All-American has the Granger reel seat so I can see why they have an early copyright date on your rod. Granger applied for that patent in 1935 and it was granted in 1938. But I don't see anything that would make the date 1930. I would think it would be either 1935, or more likely 1938. If my rod had the Granger reelseat the 1935 copyright date would make sense. But my rod does not have the Granger reelseat. The only reelseats I have seen on Granger rods were the early downlocking nickel silver slideband and the patented uplocking nickel silver screw reelseat. Wright & McGill came out with the Eagle Claw hook in 1926, but I don't see anything significant in their history, or in Granger's history in 1930. So my 3A All American rod isn't listed in the catalog? Both your All American and mine look like they are in excellent condition. I wonder why they weren't fished? P.S. My sources were Colorado Classic Cane and Fiberglass Fly Rods. |
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cofisher |
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Posts: 1121 (11/16/08 15:35:19) Administrator
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Yes, early WM co. was only producing tackle as far as is known. It has been suggested to me by some old timers that WM, Granger and Phillipson had unique
business relationships brought about (at least partially) by their close proximity to each other. Whatever that means.
Your 3A is in the 54 catalog as part of the All American series. It shows a green aluminum downlocking reel seat with green wraps. My 3A shown in the 1956 catalog has a red reelseat and multicolored wraps and is no longer call the All American. Perhaps the 1930 date is the trademark for the logo on the rod? AG could you post some photos of your 3A? |
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Arctic Grayling |
All American Rod | ||
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Master Guide
Posts: 132 (11/16/08 17:42:34) |
Oh, Great! I have a mutant All American!!! For this rod I think I would rather have the burgundy reelseat than a green one. Somehow, I don't think this
is a Granger Reelseat!
I wasn't sure about posting these pictures because I have been using Webshots instead of Photo Bucket. After reading about how hard it is to post pictures here I hadn't even tried. But it seems to work fine. |
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cofisher |
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Posts: 1122 (11/16/08 17:56:26) Administrator
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Wow, I wasn't expecting the green wraps. The rod looks in incredible shape for over 50 years old. I'm glad the photos came out. The reelseat is the
same as I have on mine.
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Arctic Grayling |
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Master Guide
Posts: 134 (11/16/08 17:59:35) |
I actually like the color of those wraps. I think it is the same color that is on the Granger Special bamboo rod. I didn't like those at first, but they
seem to grow on you.
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Arctic Grayling |
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Master Guide
Posts: 135 (11/16/08 18:02:22) |
cofisher wrote: But isn't the reel seat on your All-American the patented nickel silver Granger screw uplocking reel seat? That's what it looks like in your picture. |
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cofisher |
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Posts: 1123 (11/16/08 18:35:29) Administrator
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The reelseat on the All American is the Granger. The reelseat on my 3A is the red aluminum. The reason I said wow was those green wraps do look like Granger
green. I just sold a Granger Special and the wraps look the same. I've never seen them as clean and new looking as yours.
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Cameron |
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Posts: 2680 (11/16/08 21:42:37)
Administrator &
Chat Room Host |
cofisher...you can't be stopped! Another excellent looking W&M.
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cofisher |
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Posts: 1136 (11/19/08 22:04:06) Administrator
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The All American 5A arrived today and I was very pleasantly surprised. It is in very fine shape, just needs a little cleaning and polishing after knocking
around it's tube and plastic sock for a long time. It is actually a 6 weight and as usual will need a little heavier reel to balance correctly for me.
One small problem is the Granger uplocking reelseat is frozen or jammed. Anyone have suggestions on freeing it up?
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- Welcome, Messages, Claves, News, and FAQs
- Fishing with Fiberglass Fly Rods
- Glass Tech
- Collecting Fiberglass Fly Rods
- What's New on the Market
- Rod Pictures
- Classic Fly Reels
- Another Spin on Glass
- Rod Building & Tackle Tinkering
- The Tying Bench
- Fiberglass Fly Rods For Sale
- Fiberglass Fly Rods Wanted
- Fiberglass Flyrodders Wiki
