My 'new' Chapman 500

[JohnH]

I took delivery of a 500 last week; it looks in decent condition - ferrules fine, rod straight (with a very slight kick in the top section, nothing too serious), no signs of delamination, a few minor digs on the blanks and corks, again nothing too bad. I knew from contact with the seller than a few guides had some corrosion on them so resolved, even before I bought the rod, that I would replace the guides, particularly as I saw on TFF that a number of you had replaced the 'standard' set (which this rod has) with the deluxe spec guides to give a better action. When the rod arrived, the guides were in a better condition than I expected, but I am still going to replace because I want to add the extra guide. Anyway, hopefully a fairly straightforward strip down, a few minor repairs, fit new guides and re-varnish As I wanted a couple of other things connected with the rod, I contacted John Chapman to hopefully sort these out. We sorted a set of guides ok, but I asked about a new rod bag, as the one that came with the rod was not original and is not too brilliant. Unfortunately the lady who made the rod bags has passed away and John has run out of stock. He is hoping to source another supply, but, I guess, in the current situation sorting stuff like that out is not going to be easy. Likewise, I was unlucky with getting new ferrule stops - not surprising given the age of the rod and that fact that John said they were only cheap plastic ones to start with! John confirmed that the rod was 'made to a price' to compete with the cheap Japanese fibreglass imports at that time and, hence, the one less guide on the standard model too. So I have got to sort a rod bag and some ferrule stops. My wife might be able to help with the former and I may have to wittle away on some wood for the latter! John was able to supply a replacement 'Chapman' decal as the one on the rod is incomplete. He said that they are very delicate (being very old) and, if not careful, may disintegrate on application. I may see if I can scan it onto my laptop and reprint onto transfer paper. He also supplied me with a replacement 'Chapmans of Ware' decal for my Angaloy and I had a very interesting chat to him about that rod as well (will put this on a separate post). As I don't Iive too far from Hoddesdon, I intended to visit John to pick my stuff up (and so I could show him both rods), but as we are both 70+ we decided that this would not be sensible in the current circumstances, so I said that when this crisis is over I will take the refurbished 500 to show him. John sounded like a really nice guy and I look forward to being able to meet him. Cheers, John

[Catfish.017]

Your right, John is a good guy and very helpful too. My first restoration was a 500 and I had a lot of good advice from John on this and several subsequent projects.

[Barbellina]

John was very helpful with my 550 refurb too, I look forward to seeing your completed restoration.

[JohnH]

Barbellina - funnily enough I read your post about your 550 refurb today! Very inspiring, if I even get close to your result I'll be delighted! I won't be starting it just yet as I have got to finish a refurb on an Edgar Sealey Nufloat first. Cheers, John

[Daltons]

Best of luck with your project JohnH Took delivery of my 500 refurb project today, too. Rings on order with John Chapman (what a nice guy!). Look forward to seeing some pics as yours progresses.
Mike

[NiceRoach]

I took delivery of a 500 last week; it looks in decent condition - ferrules fine, rod straight (with a very slight kick in the top section, nothing too serious), no signs of delamination, a few minor digs on the blanks and corks, again nothing too bad. I knew from contact with the seller than a few guides had some corrosion on them so resolved, even before I bought the rod, that I would replace the guides, particularly as I saw on TFF that a number of you had replaced the 'standard' set (which this rod has) with the deluxe spec guides to give a better action. When the rod arrived, the guides were in a better condition than I expected, but I am still going to replace because I want to add the extra guide. Anyway, hopefully a fairly straightforward strip down, a few minor repairs, fit new guides and re-varnish As I wanted a couple of other things connected with the rod, I contacted John Chapman to hopefully sort these out. We sorted a set of guides ok, but I asked about a new rod bag, as the one that came with the rod was not original and is not too brilliant. Unfortunately the lady who made the rod bags has passed away and John has run out of stock. He is hoping to source another supply, but, I guess, in the current situation sorting stuff like that out is not going to be easy. Likewise, I was unlucky with getting new ferrule stops - not surprising given the age of the rod and that fact that John said they were only cheap plastic ones to start with! John confirmed that the rod was 'made to a price' to compete with the cheap Japanese fibreglass imports at that time and, hence, the one less guide on the standard model too. So I have got to sort a rod bag and some ferrule stops. My wife might be able to help with the former and I may have to wittle away on some wood for the latter! John was able to supply a replacement 'Chapman' decal as the one on the rod is incomplete. He said that they are very delicate (being very old) and, if not careful, may disintegrate on application. I may see if I can scan it onto my laptop and reprint onto transfer paper. He also supplied me with a replacement 'Chapmans of Ware' decal for my Angaloy and I had a very interesting chat to him about that rod as well (will put this on a separate post). As I don't Iive too far from Hoddesdon, I intended to visit John to pick my stuff up (and so I could show him both rods), but as we are both 70+ we decided that this would not be sensible in the current circumstances, so I said that when this crisis is over I will take the refurbished 500 to show him. John sounded like a really nice guy and I look forward to being able to meet him. Cheers, John

Did the same with Chapman restoration which is nearly finished.

John warned me the gold decal would likely disintegrate and it did right enough, so I have around three quarters of the original so not
too bothered

He is a great guy to deal with.

[Danesman]

I spoke to John on Monday of this week regarding some bits for a 550 that arrived last week. He was so helpful in giving advice to a novice. I live 15-20 mins away so looing forward to when the time is right when I can pick up stuff.

[JohnH]

John sent the items I needed very quickly, I was just sorry that I couldn't visit him to pick them up and have a chat! Will correct this situation when we get the all clear to come out of our bunkers. The 'Chapmans' decal does indeed look very fragile - I was hoping to see if I could scan it and print it on transfer paper, but having had another look at it, I cannot see how it can be done as this would require removing the decal from the backing to be able to scan it the 'right' way round! The decal is not completewly missing, so I may be able to paint in the missing bit as an alternative. I'm looking forward to refurbing the 500, but I have another rod to finish first - will still probably be ready to go before we can go fishing again anyway! John

[Ljm183]

John .. Have you noticed those new badges from Chapman,s are different to the originals, take a close look it actually says "Chapman" whereas the original,s look like they say "Chapmau" ?

Speaking to Brian and John when i visited them to get some badges they told me they had so much trouble putting them on that they used to get someone in to do it for them.

A little bit of info for you when you do happen to get one on in one piece let it dry and pour varnish over it, don't brush it on as the badge will just disintegrate.

In good old Blue Peter fashion .... Here,s one i did earlier

As fitted to a new build

[Danesman]

Interesting to see the gold logo transfer on your rod mine has something completely different does this indicate a period of manufacture ?