Gents... and ladies...

I'm in the process of rebuilding a Hinduvine bamboo flyrod. The gold script under the old, dilapidated Hinduvine decal says "Flyer" (quotes included).

There is VERY little information that I can find on this or any other rod by this maker. As I've stripped it down, I've discovered some interesting things about it. No glue seams and a stout, straight and well built 9' rod. (Heavy as he11, tho.) It has a swell about 3" up from the grip, which appeared to have been wrapped with rattan at some point. The ferrules, stripper, tiptops and reel seat are all nickel silver that was deceivingly corroded. The ferrules were even crowned, unusual on old production rods. It had pinned ferrules, except for one that was broken off at some time and amateurishly repaired. As well, one tip is about 2" shorter than the other for similar reasons. It was loaded with intermediate wraps, which I originally told the customer I was not willing to restore (thinking this was just another old war era rod) for my regular fee.

Since that time, I've come to respect the workmanship that was put into the original piece, and intend to restore as closely as possible to the original.

I've read a couple posts about other "Hinduvine" rods, and they're spoken of as an unknown brand, probably junk... but I beg to differ with this rod.

The rod building style is actually like a Garrison. The intermediates, if any indication of dating can be made, would put it in the 20's or 30's. The original owner's age would put it there as well. (A grandfather to a woman in her 60's) The very name, Hinduvine, makes me think it was likely built with Calcutta cane rather than Tonkin... and that would date it early in the last century as well.

The only thing that was not first rate was the number of guides for it's length. Originally only 6 on a 9' rod... not a good ratio. The discoloration on the bamboo shows they had not been moved or replaced in a VERY long time.

My point is... does anyone have any info on the "Hinduvine" rods or company? Was it possibly from India where labor was cheap? I'd appreciate anything you good people can tell me.

thanks in advance...

Mike

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