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This exerpt is from Bamboo Rod Restoration Handbook, author Michael Sinclair with author's permission.

       Heddon was the most prolific maker of bamboo fly rods. It is estimated that the 1930' s through the 1940' s, Heddon produced as many as 100,000 rods per The remarkable feature of all Heddon rods is the tremendously high quality standards that were consistently maintained. No other maker of so many rods was able !et this achievement.
       Although Granger and Phillipson turned out comparable quality rods, neither produced as many rods as Heddon, and though H. L. Leonard rods are almost as numerous as Heddons, the quality was inconsistent. Another amazing fact is that despite the huge number and consistent quality of rods manufactured, the rod making business was incidental to Heddon, and occurred almost as an after ,thought.
       Heddon Made -Well Made was not just slogan to the people of Dowagiac (pronounce this DOE-W AH'-JACK), Michigan. It is said that at one time or another, almost everyone in Dowagiac had a family member who was employed by Heddon. Heddon was a family business in the truest sense of the concept, but the family extended to include every employee.
       Heddon's first involvement with rod making was in the manufacture of bait rods. This was a natural extension of the bait-making business. The first bait rods under the Heddon label were made in about 1908. These rods were of blonde colored cane, had swelled butts and fancy- shaped grips made of narrow cork rings. Heddon pioneered the concept of the Short Butt -Long Tip design.
       The Heddon Fly Rod was introduced in 1924. It was made in one grade only -the finest -and sold for $35. It was appropriately called the No.35 for that reason. With the introduction of the fly rods, Heddon began using its famous brown- toned Tempered Cane. Two years later, the N 0. 20 was added to the line at a cost of $20. It was called Bill Stanley's Favorite from the very beginning in the catalogs, though it was much later that the name appeared on the rod haft.
       The No.14 was added in 1927, and was different from the other rods is several ways. First is that its price did not match its model number as it sold for $15. Next, it had a grip made of narrow cork rings and a cap & ring reel seat with a gumwood spacer. Last, this rod was marked only #14 on the rod shaft, and had the same leaping Black Bass decal that was used on the bait rods. In the late 1920's, Heddon added several more rod models and each model was finally given a name to go with its number .Heddon rods of the 1920's are easily recognized by short, stubby grips and all NS sliding band reel seats. Usually the name Heddon is stamped on the bottom of the butt cap, and there are no other markings on the rods. The rod tube will have Heddon's Dowagiac stamped on the cap. The 1930's marked the beginning of Heddon's classic era of bamboo rod production. Several new rod Numbers were introduced. A new reels eat came into use. An earlier reel seat called Hold-Tite had been used on bait rods for several years and was modified to use on fly rods. In about 1932, the first true screw Iocking seat was used on Heddon rods. It was still called the Hold-Tite but the seat was uplocking with Pyralin threads and a cedar spacer. During this period, the markings on the rod were as shown on the flat map on the far left of the page.        The next major change for Heddon rods came in 1939 with a new system of marking the rods haft and a new reel seat. The markings were changed to those shown on the center flat map. These markings are the most commonly seen. The addition of the ferrule size and recommended line sizes is especially helpful to collectors who are trying to determine the ,. action of a rod. The butt ferrule size is designated by "2F" or "2 ½ F". The larger the number, the stiffer the rod. For three- piece rods, a 2F is usually a trout rod and 2 ½ F is a bass rod. All two-piece rods are trout rods.
       The new reelseat that was introduced at this time had both the thread and the spacer (barrel) of the reelseat made of Tenite. This was a downlocking style seat which usually featured blackened NS hard- ware. Some of these seats were made of black Pyaralin and were used on No. 17, Black Beauty rods. The tenite seats are usually a marbleized finish and most are brown, though the No.14 used a Coral colored Tenite seat. The final changes for Heddon rods were only in the markings. In about 1951, the markings were changed to those seen on the far right side of the flat map page. Several rod models were dropped this year, but one new one was introduced, the No.8 which was called simply The Heddon Fly Rod. It seems interesting to note that was the same name used when the first Heddon Fly rod was introduced 27 years earlier. Heddon not only made rods for their own catalog, but supplied many, many companies with rods to sell under their private label. Among the more common sellers of Heddon-made rods were Shakespeare, Weber, E.K. Tryon (Jay Harvey Rods and Kingfisher Rods) and Lyon & Coulson.