JP Ross Quality

“When a company talks about quality, what does it really mean?”

What does JP Ross Quality mean? Cast-ability, function of components, beauty of components, workmanship of assembly and personal service are all part of our quality equation. A JP Ross customer wants a fly rod that is unique. It must look, feel and cast as a natural expression of themselves.

Quality of Components.

The Blank: The quality in a rod blank is in its matrix, its resin, its taper, its ferrules and its finish. JP Ross offers a range of blanks in our line that vary by color, length, action and number of sections. Start the JP Ross journey by choosing a blank.

The Guides: All you have to do is look at a recoil guide in its raw material form to know that the Nickel Titanium alloy that is used is high quality. Nitanol, or memory alloy was actually made for the medical industry. It is a metal that can be used in the human body and holds a shape to release blood clots. Today Nitanol is used in eyewear, various electronic applications and medical applications….and also as recoil guides manufactured by REC components.

Step away from the recoil guide and the next in line is the Titanium Carbide guides followed by stainless and chrome. Guides are important and we also do not discount the fact that sometimes they are not perfectly round, because some are hand bent. This is part of the hand made quality that makes a JP Ross.

The Handle: You’ll never find low grade cork on a JP Ross handle. I never knew what was so special about cork until I met with our supplier REC Components in Connecticut. There’s a big difference between Flor Grade Cork, Grade A, Super Grade and essentially low grade cork. Low grade cork is full of filler. Filler falls out over time.

The Reel Seat: Take a very close look at a JP Ross reel seat. You’ll never see a machine mark. That’s because our seats are made here on the east coast, not in China. Your reel will fit perfectly because our seat follows the AFTA standards. Our threads are deep and will not strip.

Stabilized Wood: Whether in the rain or even submerged the JP Ross wood reel seats will never swell, chip or crack. Stabilized wood is resin impregnated wood making the natural fibers impenetrable to water.

Engraving: We can diamond etch our nickel butt caps or laser engrave our anodized butt caps, giving you more personalized quality. How about one more… you want a brook trout or a tarpon engraved on your reel seat, we can do that too. Not enough? Send us a jpeg of what you want and we’ll do everything we can to feature that image on your reel seat or case cap.

The Case: A great fly rod deserves a great case. Bang your rod around your car, truck or drift boat for a few years and your JP Ross case resists the abuse. No Scratches. Our extruded aluminum cases are available with many different options. Choose from powder coating, anodized caps, laser engraved caps or even solid brass caps. We also can add handles or shoulder straps on our accessory page. Again, the quality of the powder coat is easily seen with the naked eye.

Thread wraps of JP Ross Custom Rod

Thread wraps to hobby rod builders and mass manufactured fly rod companies is usually just a means to attach the guides. At JP Ross Fly Rods, the thread wraps are kind of our signature. Every rod we make has three signature wraps on the butt section. Only those that know JP Ross well enough know what these 3 wraps stand for.

Sanding the handle and flor grade cork

On a recent trip to REC Components to talk about what is new for 2009, we once again looked at the quality of the cork that REC supplies. Do yourself a favor and walk into a fly shop and look at the high end fly rods we consider ourselves part of. Rods like Sage, Winston, Loomis and Orvis. Look at the quality of the cork on a JP Ross Fly Rod and you will see minimal filler and tight seams in the cork laminate. Again, attention to detail and quality materials found on a custom fly rod.

Epoxy on a Custom Fly Rod

Epoxy: To some, you mix it and put it on. That’s it? That is so far from the truth in the JP Ross Rod shop. Beck, Mitch and I have gone back and forth between epoxy finish for high end boats, including the West System and MAS epoxy. All names well know in that industry. But still we come back to the Flex Coat Finish. Sometimes we do two coats and even sand in between with our own proprietary technique. We also play with other elements like temperature and cutting the epoxy with solvent to remove bubbles. When you look at our finish, it should look like looking at liquid glass. If it does not, it is not considered JP Ross Quality.

Custom Fly Rod, Custom Rod Bags

In the old days, we tried to save money by making the rod bags ourselves. It did not take long before we realized that this gave us a whole new custom element to the rod building. Micro Suede, Flannel, Cotton. They all make a difference when you have a theme for the rod. These are the little details that make a difference.

The extra touch, quality inspection.

It’s probably overkill, but if JP himself inspects a rod for quality he puts the Celtic seal in the handle. We look at thread wraps, dimples in the finish, fingerprints, etc. We acknowledge the fact the each rod is made by hand, and each rod has character, however quality standards are still given to each rod we build to be consistent in the 10 years and thousands of rods we have built over that period.