I am making a 5'6" AMT ultra light spinng rod with the AMT Vetre Matrix handle. I was going to order some arbors for the handle but looking at what came with it, there are 2 arbors, one at the front and one at the end. Would these two be sufficient or how many would you recommend? Has anybody else been building with these?

Thank you for help.

Warren.

Those aren't arbors, they are used as a foregrip and a butt cap. You still need to fill in the space whether you use foam brick arbors, masking tape or dry wall tape just as you would use them on an ordinary reel seat. Dry wall tape works great as i have used it to build six rods using the Matrix handles.

Lance

I have a question as well. I got one of the casting handles in the other day and it seems like only the seat gets mounted to the blank. Does the long rear handle section just "float" around the blank? It seems like you would need to support it with a bushing or arbor somewhere but if you do, it won't revolve as you loosen or tighten the reel seat. I'm a little confused about how these handles are supposed to be mounted. Any chance of American Tackle getting some instructions out? I've mocked the handle up and it flexes badly and hits the blank on the inside without any support. Design flaw? Or am I just not doing something right? What supports that long rear handle grip?

You may be able to contact the great folks at Batson. I have used their version of the matrix handle on a 6'6" Rainforest baitcasting blank that I made for my father. It came with the needed bushings (arbors). I am sure that they would be more than willing to deal with you, another place to try would be fishsticks4u. That is where I got my handle from. I am not trying to knock AMTAK's handle by any means just letting you know that the bushings are indeed out there to be had. Also to second what Lance stated drywall tape with rod bond works wonders!!!!

William, you're correct in that only the reel seat is attached to the blank. I had some concerns about this too so I conducted some very un-scientific tests on a casting model. I built it on a Rainshadow salmon blank and anchored the butt section in a vise a few inches in front to the reelseat. I then applied varying amounts of pressure to the "floating" handle and could not get it to fail. I didn't grab the very butt end of the handle and put a tremendous amount of pressure on it but I did grab the reelseat and push down on the handle with my forearm as you would in fighting a fish. Everything just felt really solid. This was with the 14" casting model so I can only assume that the shorter models will be even more stable. That being said, if you don't need the rotating rear grip, the Forecast handle kits that Tom mentioned are outstanding. The woven graphite material on the AMTAK products are polished and very slick. The material on the Forecast handles are a little less polished and have a much better feel to me.

Jeff Hunter

Hi Guys,

I typed up some directions. If I missed anything let me know.

It is really very easy. You don't mount anything to the blank accept the reel seat with the EVA front winding check in place.
• Slide the fully assembled handle (minus the winding check but with the EVA butt plug in place), up on to the blank where you want it positioned. Make sure to wind the rear hood/nut assembly as tight as it can go so when the tube is in place the butt end of the blank doesn't hit the EVA butt plug in the Matrix Tube. Mark the spot on the blank.
• Ream the winding check to fit if necessary.
• Remove the long rear hood/nut assembly off the reel seat body. The seat itself is the only portion of the handle that you bush up and permanently mount. Use the bushings you normally would use (graphite bushings, masking tape, dry wall mesh etc.) and mount the reel seat with the EVA winding check in place.
• Screw on the rear hood/nut assembly to its tightest setting. Coat the rear nut with epoxy making sure not to get any epoxy into the area beyond the lip separating the rear hood from the nut. The nut must remain free to rotate. Slide on the Matrix Tube with the butt plug epoxied in place and let dry.


Warmest regards, Joe Meehan, ATC

The only problem I had with mounting the Vetrix handle was on your lighter Matrix blanks. The smaller of the two handles is still so big, and the diameter of the blank so small, that none of the available arbors on the market fit. Using drywall tape adds quite a bit of weight on these light rods. The only option I had I could think of without resorting to masking tape was to sand down some cork rings, but I didn't have time to do that as I had to have the rod done for a birthday, so I ended up using another handle assembly instead. (St Croix UL)

Phil Richmond

Hi Phil,

Anyway to build up the arbors?

Regards, joe

I had considered doing so, building the blank up with tape and then using a graphite arbor on top of it, but I couldn't convince myself to do it. Just seemed kind of jury rigged to me.

I did try to go mesh tape all the way, and wrapped the tape up to match the reel seat. The Extra-light matrix blank was so thin that I had to use so much mesh tape, even though I thought I wrapped it tight, it was still pretty mushy and heavy. This is why I mentioned in the past that I would recommend either a smaller diameter handle option or including arbors with the reel seat to fit as was mentioned Batson does with theirs.

I do not have any experience with the Batson version however, I would pay an extra dollar for the arbors to match your lighter rods. Granted, this is just my opinion, I don't know how many other people with the same experience I had.

Phil

I will keep that in mind. It is something we've wanted to offer but just haven't found the right deal.