A Ron Kusse “Special Tempering” bamboo fly rod, 6'6", 2-piece, 2-tip and built for a #3 line. Serial 8656. The rod weighs 2.9 ounces (not the 2 1/4 ounces listed on the hang tag). Very fast DF action with a large swelled butt. The grip has a bit of use, hand soiling, and some of the snakes have micro brassing inside. Otherwise no sign of use so I’ll call it light use to near mint. The node pattern seems to be semi random. The “Special Tempering” is a very heavy oven tempering in the middle of both tips, getting lighter toward both the top and bottom. The butt is lighter still. The main wraps are tan with dark brown at the keeper and ferrules. The stripper is a black #8 SRMC carbide and the snakes are black high arch H.S.S. All wraps have a heavy coat of epoxy. The Swiss-style ferrules are oxidized black. The grip is 5 3/4" long and tapers to a super slim, meeting the front key cork check. The seat is attractively quilted maple with a lip meeting the rear cork. The seat hardware is a black oxidized cap and ring stamped “Ron Kusse, Maker” in  a cartouche. The rod comes in a grey cloth bag with attached ferrule plug and hang/data tag. The rod tube comes with a protective Cordura sleeve and the tube itself is aluminum with brass fixtures and a “Ron Kusse, Maker” stamp on the top.