I'm building this rod for a friend using a St. Croix blank 2M70MHF2 to fish for tarpon. What, how many, and single foot or double foot guides do i use on this type of rod? (approximately). You may be asking why but I havent got the rod blank in my hands at this time, so how do I go about figuring this out before i have the rod blank? Also how do I know what type of reel seat to order this rod? I have nothing to go on at this time except that his hands are pretty much the same size as mine.

Talk to the supplyer you are getting the blank from, he should be able to hook you up with every thing you need.
You can also try a search of this site and get a lot of options on what other builders used.

Alan, with only the blank information to go on, it's a bit hard to answer all your questions. First I suppose your are talking about a standard setup with the guides on top of the rod and not a spiral (bumper) wrap or spinning setup. If so, I would look into the Turbo guides or one of the heavy duty boat guides for the setup you are building. Being a 7' rod I would normally order something like 9 guides and a TT. Something like, 16, 12, 10, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, TT. I might, depending on the type and size of the reel opt to go with a #20 butt guide, but would definitely order 3 TT. One size as stated on the rod spec's and the next size larger and next size smaller.

Without the reel information, It's hard to say about the reel seat, but I would opt for one of the Aftco or Pac Bay alumn. seats sized for the reel being used.

You don't ask about grips, but I would look at EVA or Haplon. Probably, something like 10 - 12" Butt grip and 6 - 8" Fore grip.

Hope this helps!

Regards......Doug@
TCRds