Sometimes, even I get lucky...

[Shrimpman]

Yesterday, I received a 9' rod that I had purchased for what I considered a good price. It's a Wright & McGill Granger Aristocrat with original tube and sock, and one short tip. When I opened the cardboard shipping tube, I saw that something was amiss with the Granger tube- it was too darned short! Yup, the seller had not assembled the rod and the supposed 9' rod is an 8642.
I already have a fine Goodwin Granger Champion in that length, though the tapers are a bit different, so one will likely have to move on. In the meantime, I will enjoy looking at my purdy 8642 Aristocrat...

[Webfly]

That thing looks mint! I know, we don't like to use that word around here....BUT it does!

[Shrimpman]

Somebody definitely took care of it, but it was used, as evidenced by the dirty grip that I cleaned. Too bad one tip is down three inches!

[OldCane]

I love it when a rod is not worse than expected! Nice surprise too. I once purchased a trashed 8' Heddon (2/1) trade rod that turned out to be a 7'6" rod.

Maybe 15 years ago I bought a 9' W&M Aristocrat that had more or less never been taken out of its tube since new. The seller said that his father got it as a gift and wasn't a fly fisherman. The tube didn't even have a scratch on it until our last move across country when the moving company was too casual with packing it.

[Shrimpman]

Well, I thought I had lucked upon a bargain 8642... until I fished it for a couple of hours today. What a delight! The 8642s feel so light in hand when being fished.
So, now I'm going to have to work on getting the short tip scarfed or finding a replacement Granger tip. No more cheap rod!
If it gets scarfed, it could at least be hidden under the wraps of the last snake, whcih were removed when the tip-top was reinstalled: