I built 2 new rods and glued the reel seats ON the spine for a conventional reel instead of opposite the spine. will this be a problem? Should I just deal with it, or try to get the reel seat loose. I dont want to ruin the the reel seat, its an anodized Aftco seat. What are my options?

I assume you were thinking of building a spinning rod? If so you bonded the reel seat opposite side of the spine that is normally used. If the seats were graphite filled ones I would suggest you cut them off, but since it appears they are aluminum I say just leave them as they are and build the rod as you normally would. The placement of the guides in a spinning configuraiton normally stabilizes the rod to the side that the guides are mounted to anyway.

I would not try to reheat the aluminum reel seat to loosen the epoxy bond, unless you want to risk damage to the blank.

Lou

You'll never know while fishing them. So, build away.

Regards......Doug@
TCRds

Mark,

I agree totally with Doug. People make way to much of spine - Even arguing over if it's spine or spline. If you don't tell the blank it proberly will never know - LOL

Hank
On The Rocks Fishing
Wells, ME.

I would be more concerned if I did not build them on the blanks straight line.

Spine, like Doug said, is, in almost all cases, much ado about nothing. You will never notice the difference when you fish with them.

Go ahead and finish them.

Mark,
Being an anodized Aftco reel seat, I assume you're building a game rod. The spine is exceptionally important in this case. I've seen all sorts of problems come from spines being off. That being said, most rods have a "secondary" spine (eaiser terminology on this) exactly opposite the prominent main spine. In these cases, though not completely ideal, should your reel seats be built onto this "secondary" spine, you shouldn't be in too bad of trouble. However, if your rod is of the minority with just one prominent spine, You'll need to saw them off. I know it's expensive to do so, but when you're dealing with game rods, it's no small thing. There's a reason it's called game fishing and not just fishing for bluegills. Having the gimbal come loose, the rod fighting you the whole time, or even worse - having the rod break because it twisted too hard on itself trying to return to the spine - can be devastating to a rod builder. Good luck.

Mark,
If you will go to the web site [csfa.com] and go to the bottom of the page where it says Tech Notes and then go Final Word on Spines I think that it may put your mind at ease. This is the web site for John Kaufman that builds devices for testing graphite golf club shafts. Graphite golf club shafts are built almost exactly like graphite rod blanks and have very simular characteristics. In fact, most of the early graphite golf club shafts were build by rod blank manufacturers. I know John and he is very knowledgeable and very well respected in this area. He does a good job of covering spine and it should blow away some of the fog and non-sense that has been created over the years by a number of people who have written about rod spines.