South Bend 12 Restoration

Here's a very nice Pre-WWII rod from South Bend (judging by the decal) that is lighter than my other SBs.  I found this rod a local antique fair and had put off restoring it for almost 2 years due to band & other jobs that came in.  Honestly, I dreaded all the signature wraps on the butt and did it between the last 2 repair jobs.  I went with silk thread and had some bleed through despite 4 coats of color preserver (you can see the black thread under red in the second restored shot), but the the translucent red looks so nice on the light-colored cane I can't be too disappointed.  This rod casts a 5 wt. Sylk line very nicely, will try the Triangle Taper as well.  My next project is restoring an 8.5 ft. Bill Stanley's Favorite that was redone in brown & yellow.  I already removed the original reel seat which was cracked and missing the bottom hardware.  Hmm, this is the first personal rod I have restored in almost a year.