About

Five years at the bench.

About

Five years at the bench.

The shop began with a repair. A favorite bay rod came back from a trip needing a guide rewrap and a new finish coat, and learning how to do that work — one guide at a time, with epoxy drying overnight on a rack in the garage — was enough to open the door on the craft. A few years later, the first full build followed. Then rods for family. Then rods for friends and for the builder himself. Five years in, the bench is sharp enough to open for public commissions. The shop stays small on purpose. One builder makes every decision; one builder wraps every guide; one builder answers the first email.

Jeff Miller

Builder

Jeff builds in Milpitas, California. His fishery is the San Francisco Bay and the Pacific coast — halibut, striped bass, ling cod, rock cod — and most of his design instincts come from chasing those species in live-bait, boat-based conditions. The workshop is intermediate-scale: a manual wrapping setup, a lathe he built himself for shaping grips, and the kind of component inventory that lets a spec turn into a blank-on-the-jig inside a week.

Components

The spec, in the order the build follows it.

Fuji · American Tackle · St. Croix · Rod Geeks · Lamiglas · Sage · MHX · CRB

The blank

The rod starts here. Blank selection answers the species, the water, and the technique in a single choice — action, power, length, and taper all get set before a guide is wrapped. The shop works with Lamiglas, St. Croix, MHX, Rod Geeks, and Sage blanks depending on what the build is asking for.

Guides

Guide train is chosen after the blank, not alongside it. Count, spacing, frame material, and ring material are matched to the blank's action and the line class the rod will carry. Fuji and American Tackle are the two houses the shop returns to most.

Reel seat

Reel seat is the second-most load-bearing decision on the rod after the blank. Saltwater service demands corrosion resistance, and the lock behavior under a running fish is non-negotiable. Fuji hardware is the default unless the build calls for something the spec writes in.

Grip

Grip shape is turned on a lathe in-house. Cork, EVA, or a combination — the call is driven by technique, hand size, and how long the rod will be in use on a typical day. Comfort under fatigue is the measurement that matters; aesthetics follow.

Wrap and finish

Thread work is where the rod takes most of its bench hours. Decorative wraps are drawn up in the consultation and mocked in Illustrator before a thread is laid. Guide wraps are set to spec. Two coats of epoxy with overnight cure between coats; a third coat when the wrap depth asks for it.

Components and sourcing

Beyond the primary component set, the shop sources specialty hardware, decorative materials, and custom inlays on request. CRB is the quieter fifth name in the component list — a useful house for specific blank profiles and hardware when the build calls for it.

Supplier names below are the brands the shop builds with. They are listed as components, not as endorsements or partnerships.

Write to the bench

Write to the bench.

A short note is enough to start. I reply within two business days.