maurer taper , the professor

[jimlucey]

hi folks ,
this year at the canadian cane gathering i picked up some rod building supplies from a gentleman who was getting out of building rods . he gifted me some strips that he had begun working on and said he was intending to build " the professor " which i believe is a maurer taper . does anyone know where i can find the numbers for this rod and what "type " of rod this build would be ?
i am a newbie , in case you haven't already guessed .
thanks , jim

[slw]

Given the number of knowledgable Maurer fans here, I'm a little surprized no one's answered your questions. I can't, but there is this information from his old web site. Apparenly he made both progressive and "parabolic" rods, and there were apparently 2 versions of the Professor model.

https://sites.google.com/site/sweetwate ... od-choices

[ibookje]

Maurer passed away too soon for most.
I've yet to see & cast one myself and that's not going to be easy now...

[carl otto]

As one can see from the previous catalog post, and as I remember, George made the Old Philosopher which was his derivation of the Paul Young Perfectionist. I have not heard of "The Professor", nor do any of the catalogs I have from George list such a taper. Could one suppose that there was a lost in translation issue and in fact one is speaking of the Old Philosopher? (As one can see slw, made this transition from catalog to post, so others may have also.)

Carl

[jimlucey]

As one can see from the previous catalog post, and as I remember, George made the Old Philosopher which was his derivation of the Paul Young Perfectionist. I have not heard of "The Professor", nor do any of the catalogs I have from George list such a taper. Could one suppose that there was a lost in translation issue and in fact one is speaking of the Old Philosopher? (As one can see slw, made this transition from catalog to post, so others may have also.)

Carl

that sounds like a reasonable explanation . i appreciate the help .
thanks , jim

[rjhld]

George Maurer's "Old Professor": I was a good friend and former student of George. I now have most of his old equipment in my shop along with my new gear. I have been away from rod making for a while and am back making rods again, Red Tail Bamboo Rods will be listed soon. The "Old Professor" was indeed a taper of George's. He gave me the taper and I made it in a solo class I had with him back in 1998. It is a 7'6" 5Wt medium fast action rod, speed 285 and is a combination as George told me of a Paul Young taper with George's modifications. It is built the way George built them, flamed cane with a swelled butt and his colors used for the wraps. At his request, "Old Professor" was not listed on the rod. I named it for a river with my name as maker. I have fished this rod for 20 years in many places in the US and Ireland. At this time I am not permitted to release the taper per family wishes. Side note. Many folks don't know, before George started making bamboo rods he wrapped fiberglass and Graphite rods for The Paul Young Rod Company. After Paul passed George visited the family and was grated permission to see, read and copy many of Pauli's personal papers about his rods and tapers.
We miss you George. Robert Hickey

[Short Tip]

George Maurer was born in 1949, and Paul Young died in 1960. George was more precocious than we knew!

[SamNielson]

Not to be pushy, but do you know more about the family's wishes with George's tapers? I have wondered for quite some time. If memory serves someone was considering reproducing his tapers as a venture.
Thanks

[Caneghost]

Wyatt Dietrich (Dream Catcher Fly Rods) was a student and friend of George's, and made a memory series of rods under a permission from his daughters. I am fortunate to have one of them. Wyatt retired from rodmaking in 2014. He cannot and will not release George's tapers, something I hope all will respect.

[NedZeppelin]

I have three of Wyatt's builds from early 2000s and very sorry to hear I missed the Memory Series! I thought he retired to a more economically productive life, maybe this was just a special batch for old times sake. Would have been interested. But can't buy every rod!