I just built a tuna rod for a guy to try out on his new 47' Davis. I used the RT6350 blank and a 17.75 inch short uni-butt from batson as well. this puts the total inches around 84 inches give or take. He took it to his boat last weekend and noticed that his "other rods" were about 12" shorter. He is comparing it to an 80lb class rod he had. The shorter rod does reach over the covering board, a question I had asked him to look at.

Is there a standard length? And if so, does it require getting a longer blank, and cutting it down? If not, what blank length and brand would you recommend in order NOT to cut?

If cutting it down, do you trim the tip or the butt or both?

thanks everyone for your help.

You trim the butt end of the blank to get you the desired overall length. There are blanks out there like Baston's "Stubbies", Calstar's GF410, etc... that can be glued directly into the ferrule and give a finished length from 5'-6'.

Taking a 5'6" Blank and trimming the butt to give a finished (installed in the Unibutt) 5'6" or 6' length is pretty standard, but it depends on what the customer wants. I've seen plenty of 5'6" blanks glued directly in to butts un-cut. I have a couple myself with 6'6" blanks in #4 butts.

Mark Griffin
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C&M Custom Tackle
San Dimas, California