Dear Jim,
Its flywagon indeed... varnish poisoning
Dear Alberto,
Yeah, you/Q or Huns probably posted that jap link long ago
... must have fried some grey cells smelling cane varnish
;D
Please ask... I'll answer best I can
.. this place is the boo world in the making no? ;D... lets create, chat and live boo then
The truth is I have only limited experience with makers from USA, UK, Argentina and certain parts of Europe... no japanese experience at all.
What I can say about the japanese is that they have collected all the best cane rods in the world ( Paynes, leonards, gillums, garrisons, youngs, aroner, carpenter you name it) and are really one of the best judges of cane rods. Therefore, you can be sure that if the japanese queue for a maker, he must be something
. Current 'still affordable' makers Marcello, Fries, Reams and Wayne are in this league. I would not be surprised if their rods reach the $2.75k mark like Brandin, carpenter and brackett very soon.
Japanese rods are generally thought to be less 'powerful' but smoother due to their use of local madake which has finer fibres. But they also have makers that hollowbuild and use powerful tapers. What is very markedly different is the reverence to Nature adopted by the japanese. They do not try to force the bamboo but use handheld timber tools and heaters to straighten the nodes/cane. Their aesthetics are also very sparse and Zen which I like very much.
European rods are both extremes with very parabolic-based for the French ( Petzon)/Denmark ( Fries) while the Germans (baginski, brunner, hans schlect) tend to make more powerful windbeating rods. British rods ( hardy, morgan) tend to be medium fast blonde rods. Generally European rods can be used for both wet and dry flies.
Flaming is a strong characteristic of newer US makers ( newer, I mean post Payne, older I mean the old Leonards) and is supposed to make the rod faster. American makers tend to differentiate between wet and dry fly actions with dry being more tippy than wet. The intention is to create more line speed to dry the fly while protecting fine tippets. However, IMHO the trend is now to create rods that 'perform' ie cast into wind yet delicate in presentation. The ideal is the perfect 7.5 to 8.5ft 5wt. US makers are very technical and traditional at the same time as living up to big names like Payne, Leonard, Young, Powell, Winston, T&T, Granger both enhance and limit the choice of tapers.
IMHO the cream of the American crop are Brandin ( Hollowbuilt, quads, power casting), Wojnicki ( Pentas, glass ferrules, hollowbuilt, smoothness), Aroner ( aesthetics and leonard style dry fly rods), Kusse ( casting & leonard aesthetics), carpenter ( casting), Brackett ( hollow-fluting, winston casting), Summers ( parabolics, PH Young style) .
This group of 'masters' is followed by the 'young' & not so young upstarts that are IMHO changing the cane world: Wayne maca ( monocoqe, graphite ferrule), Chris Raine ( Hollowbuilt Quads), Marcello ( bamboo ferruled hollowbuilts), Jim Reams ( Hollowbuilt hex), Jeff hatton ( hollowbuilt mortise with the aesthetics of pre 20th century classics).
Others build great rods either aesthetics or taper and even considered masters: Mike Clark, AJ, Streamer ( Abrams), Boyd, Wagner, Darryl Whitehead, Taylor, Schroeder, Jennings, Jenkins, Ruhe, Lacey etc. Any custom work from this group will easily match the masters above.
Finally, the not so famous but good friends and makers: Carlin, Brooks, Schliske, Fultz, Oyster, Danny Heus, Mike Shay
. These makers craft from the heart.
Hope it answers your question.
;D
Cheers
CY