vom hofe

Question
An other vom hofe question. i have a rod 81 1/2 inch, 4 guides, the the eyes are held to the guides with string allowing them to be untied and changed out. marked edward vom hofe    maker   fulton st  n.y.  the wood looks like rose wood. have you seen one like this before? I have it on ebay if you wish to see the pix and comment on what i have here. thanks for your opinion

Answer
Hi Steve,

The rod looks to be in good condition and straight.  I doubt that the heavy string came on the rod from the factory.  I would guess it has been added for some reason, perhaps to provide some sort of intended reinforcement to the original wraps.  The guides should have been able to withstand normal fishing pressure without added reinforcement so it may be that a previous owner thought the extra string would help when fishing for much larger fish.  

I am not familiar with guides that can be removed and swapped around as you indicate.  This doesn't mean it is not possible, but I've certainly not heard of it or seen it before.  It would take some hands on inspection and testing to convince me that these guides work like that.  I do see that the guides are built up on small platforms but I suspect replacing one would be a soldering job at the least and it just might be easier to replace the entire guide.  I don't see how the heavy string is being used to hold the guide in place as you indicate.  Perhaps the pictures are not showing what you mean, but I don't see it.  Sorry.

One thing is certain...I have been wrong before and could be again, but I doubt the guides worked that way.  If they do, I'd sure like to see them and figure out how they work.

Wood choices on a vom Hofe rod would be either Greenheart or Hickory for the solid wood shafts.  This one could be either.  It has enough grain in it to be Hickory which would be my guess.  Yes, I have seen this kind of shaft before, I have a solid wood shaft rod that is 8 feet long and looks much like this one.

The handle is rattan wrapped which is found on many of the vom Hofe boat rods.  The reel seat and butt cap look good and will polish up nicely with some "0000" steel wool.

Thanks,  Joe