Here are the specific details and photos of my two B.James S/U MKIV rods:
The first one I bought was purchased three years ago via a member of this forum who happens to fish with the angling author Jon Berry.
It was in excellent condition and I only had to pay Jon the bargain price of £125, and have used it frequently since then.
The second one I purchased as part of a three-rod B.James set - the MKIV carp, the MKIV Avon and the S/U MKIV from a another member of this forum. They are all in 'as new' condition and the MKIV carp has never been used. I have not used any of the three-rod set yet, but I do intend to.
Both the S/U MKIVs are very similar, both have the London, England inscriptions, both have handles about 28.5 inches long, neither has a hook-keeper or shoulder , both have doughnut ends to the handles. Both are fairly dark cane of a very similar thickness
The one that's in 'as new' condition is 10ft 2.25 ins when assembled, the other one is 10ft 2.75 ins when assembled.
Both have butt sections longer than the tip section, and both as you can see from the photos have almost identical end sections and end-eyes.
The 'as new' rod is the top one in each photo:
Just to add further, the B. James S/U MKIV rods do not have a standard test-curve. It is often said that they are 2lb TC (as opposed to 1.5 lb for the MKIV carp), but it appears that the test curves vary from about 2lb to somewhere nearer 4lb, as anglers who have these will tell you. I would estimate the test curve of the one I use regularly to be about 3lb.
Also the thickness of the cane on the S/U MKIVs varies - the one I use regularly is considerably thicker than the one that Pershore Harrier has ( we compared them at a TFF day).
With regard to dating B.James rods, the most accurate way for the MKIV carp and MKIV Avon is by the inscriptions - Ealing pre 1956, London 1956-57, England 1958 onwards ( to as late as mid 1960's maybe?).
Handle shape is not a good indicator - I have a England MKIV Avon ( 1958 onwards) but it has a trumpet handle, not doughnut as is indicated in info showing year by handle shape.
Its more difficult to date the S/U MKIV's. I think the Ealing period S/Us are very rare as the S/U MKIV was a later addition. Also no one seems to know when they started making or stopped making the S/U MK IV's
Finally - a bit of a sideline from the main topic, the S/U I use regularly has been through some battles with carp in very tight snaggy swims, and last September after the rod was bent rather severely by a carp going under a thick willow bough just above the water level, the butt eye was wrenchhed out of the whippings.
As a 'temporary fix' I super-glued it back on - see two photos below. I have used it a number of times since and it appears to have no effect on performance, but at some stage I obviously need it 'repaired' properly - ie just the whippings removed for that eye, replaced , and then revarnished.
Who should I ask to do the job?
![Image](http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x36/julian54/IMG_9424_zpspkvgqiwf.jpg)