i am building a pitch bait rod using a 6 1/2 calstar grafighter blank....i am using a slick butt and a 10'' foregrip....i reversed the reel seat as well so it works more like a unibutt.....

the problem i have is that w/the 10'' forgrip and the reversed reel seat, it is harder to align the guide....i did mark the 4 sides of the blank but when i am placing the guides it is still hard to reference the exact top of the blank....

any suggestions would be appreciated

jk

Hey, Josh K. - Tape down a ZERO-AXIS thread, or whatever you want to call it. Find about a 6 inch section of the blank, between the butt wrap and the butt guide where nothing will go, except this alignment thread. Tape down a heavy thread that lays on the rod along the axis that you want the line guides to align with. That's your gunsight and your overhead midline. Keep your guides straight from both views and you'll be fine. The overhead view should have the rod blank bi-secting the horizontal diameter of each guide ring. If it doesn't, your guide ring is rotated off-axis and needs straightening down the gunsight's view. I hope that makes sense. In lieu of thread, you can simply use a very narrow piece or strip of tape; or create a gap between two strips of tape, or whatever else works for you. Just don’t scratch the blank finish or leave a gummy residue after you remove the tape, and you’ll be fine. Rubbing alcohol should be plenty strong if any tape residue needs to be removed. LOL, Cliff Hall+++

Josh
I like to take an old reel frame(one of the one piece kind like tiburon) put it in the reel seat and straighten the guides and tip that way. The reel frame will chuck into the reel seat straight if you tighten it down good (eyeball it just to make sure) Works great for me.

I used a chaulk line once to mark the axis of a heavy blank. Worked great !

Raymond Adams
Eventually, all things merge, and a river runs through it..