I was wondering how many other folks have mixed and matched the tip sections of different brands of rods? Here is my recent experience:

About 2 years ago, I built up a 2 -piece, 4 wt fly rod rod, based on a blank that is/was well regarded on this board. To my dismay, the rod turned out to be a soggy-butted dog. It was a poor performer with whatever line I put on it - both in terms of accuracy and feel. In disgust, consigned the rod to the "parts" area of my attic and went on with other rod projects.

While waiting out the recent pacific storms, I remembered the "dog" rod and dug it out, to see if I could rework it. After stripping down the tip section, I removed the finish ( 0.004" thick), and put on the lightest guides I could find.. Alas, even with a lightened tip, the butt was still too soft to support it. Not to be defeated, I tried the tip on a couple of other rods in my arsenal. To my delight, the tip fitted both.To be safe, I put my micrometer on the male ferrule of the donor rod and the recipient rods. They were a match at the very end of the male section and only 0.001" different 1.5" lower down.

One of these recipient rods is my Dan Craft FT 5 wt, which I use a lot on big lakes. While I love this rod for long range work, I find a bit too fast for some of my shorter range fishing. The 4wt tip has thus provided a slightly slower action for my FT5. This should be perfect for the closer in game. It is also a safety backup, should I get careless and break the FT's original tip.

So, while the butt of the dog rod is still pretty much a lost cause, the tip has found new life. Has anyone else experienced/ tried this with different rods?

Rob

Yes. About 6 years ago I bought a bunch (too many) fly rod blanks from a company that was going out of buisiness. They were (are) a beautiful chestnut brown color . "I couldn't help myself" and bought 2piece two and three weights, 3 piece three and four weights and 4 piece4, 5 and 6 weights. What I wound up doing with a lot of them is making up "combination" rods from various sections of each to produce two piece or three piece 2/3 weight rods (four sections total) that varied from 6 feet to 7.5 feet others that were two, three or four piece combination 3/4 and 5/6 weight rods (four and five sections total) in lenghts of 7 - 8.5 feet. The butts / tips that were left over got turned into give away kid's rods (perch jerkers) or internal/external repair ferrules. Come to think of it I still have 4 or 5 of those left in a barrel that are still in the original packaging that I ought to do something with - but fitting all those disparate sections left lots of "odds and ends " too. For yours maybe just set it aside for repairs.

i built my 8 year old son a trout rod out of 2 broken fly rod tips.i used a 9 weight for the butt and a 5 weight for the tip.it is a little slow but it works.the 9 weight was broken at he tip due to car door and the 5 weight was broken at the ferrel due to boat rail.i just cut and fitter them where they would fit..