Just curious what you think of the spinning or casting rods (often used for bass) that have the blank exposed just under the reel seat and all the way to the bottom of the rod where a cork butt cap is glued on. Have you seen many blanks broken here where it is not covered by the typical cork grip? Just curious of the benefits, is it just for balance but then again most often weight is added to the handle to balance the rod? Interested in your thoughts. Thanks

I built an All Star IM10 casting rod last year using a Pac Bay reel seat that leaves a small section of the blank exposed by the trigger.It makes for a really sensitive rod because your hand is in direct contact with the blank.I don't believe this would affect the structural integrity of the rod in anyway.Joel

Joel, what I'm talking about is leaving 8" or 10" of blank exposed beneath the reel seat, and not the small area within the reel seat that is left exposed for greater sensitivity.

Oh sorry,I don't remember ever seeing a setup like that before.

I think you might be talking about behind the reel seat at the butt end of the blank.If that is so, it is for cutting over all weight of the settup on heavier sticks.
Joel, this is called a split-grip. Lots of nice ones in photo rearch.

Thanks Mike,now I know what your talking about.I have a Berkley series one rod with this type of handle.I still like it.My Dad has built some rods with this style handle.No problems whatsoever-mostly a reduction in weight and is useful for leverage in fighting fish in my opinion.Joel

I have made several split grip rods. To say I did it for weight reduction would be wrong.
How much does a cork tube, 6 to 8 inch, 1/4 inch thick weigh? A decorative wrap
or a personal message usually replaces the missing cork. I like it more for a better feel. I
build the butt grip directly behind the seat to fit the palm better. Works great on casting
rods especially. I find on spinning rods the seat is where you hang on to your rod anyways so more cosmetic in my case. It also gives a more custom look at glance.

On longer rods, removing weight from the rear of the rod can actually upset the balance, shifting it forward to a point where most would not want it.

But, all in all unless you're using very heavy grip materials, I don't think it's going to make much difference.

There are some common sense reasons for using it, however. Good cork is hard to come by. A shorter grip, only on the very butt of the rod and perhaps just a bit behind the seat, uses less of your good cork stash. Also, the bare blank in between the split grip can be used for decorative wrapping, inscriptions, etc.

...............

Personally, I (and a lot of builders prefer them) just really like the looks of them. I can't imagine 8 to 10" though. I leave about 3 - 4" bare and eithe wrap or marbelise it and place my Logo decal their

Mike

IF you guys fish on boats with aluminum, metal, or even PVC rod holders - a SW Party Boat - just note that the front portion of the split grip will seemingly always rest on the top edge of the rod holder, and either damage cork, dent EVA, or scratch the blank up between grips.

Why not? Unless you got three hands you cant hold on to the foregrip, the butt AND reel it in all at the same time! You need that little ball on the end to stick in your armpit though. The rod I made with an aluminum fighting butt is eager to hurt me when im not carefull. Live and learn. (hey, did I just invent one of those things like LOL, but it would be LAL? cool. LAL. yeah.

I'm with Barkley on this one. It looks cool. Also, even though their isnt much of a reduction in weight, that along with several other weight savings measures can add up slightly.

Some builders prefer to do decorative wraps, etc. I just leave it plain. I also have a few rods with 5-8" exposed, and it doesnt look bad at all.

Scott

It looks great and customers love it. It's a great place to put stickers and you can leave it bare blank or marble or wrap. Show it to a group of fishermen and some of them will definitely want it.

Putter

After re-looking at your post, were you speaking of a split REEL SEAT? I see this being bantied about, also. If so, look at the post on it that was put up recently. It talks of George's website as having information on this.

Putter

I'm sorry to cause such confusion, but obviously I'm not up on the latest nomenclature for handle designs. In the photo section under robow7, photo titled 75881a will show three rod handles and the one I'm talking about is in the middle. Thanks for your input and again sorry for the confusion.

Rob-
That is a split grip rod in robow's picture.

Putter

Rob
Split grip. I do them more and more frequently on surf rods. It makes a convenient place to put a customer's name or put a butt wrap, marbleize, color shift paint additives etc. It also turns out that that section of the rod takes less abuse from "flip away" sand spikes = and looks attractive when sitting in them.
"Flip away sandspikes" (before the question arises) 1"-2" (1.5 - 2" diameter) of end capped aluminium or below a half pipe of aluminium tube 12-14" (2" diameter) long welded to 3-4' (1" diameter) of aluminium tube. Work the 1" diameter tube into the sand with a rocking motion, angled slightly "seaward" with the open "half pipe" facing you. The butt of the rod slips into the capped end tube to hold it securely. When a fish hits simply lift the rod the 2" from the capped end & rock the rod back towards you - FISH ON!

I really like the split rear grip on rods. By basic physics of levers alone you can see how this makes balancing rods a much easier task without adding nearly as much additional weight as other balancing ideas have suggested. It also provides many more possibilities and additional aids to certain fishign techniques.