I recently ordered some blanks and they are not what they were marked. Is there any way to change the action of a rod to make it faster, I was thinking of inserting something inside of the blank or wrapping really long guide wraps with under wraps. It is the only thing I could think of to make the action faster except for someone did mention that it is possible to change a fast action into a extra fast action by adding length, but this is already at the max length I want, and I want it far faster, I ordered so many that I would hate to just put my first order of blanks in the back of the closet to mess with one day down the road. Any ideas?
James

The only way to create a faster action with what you have now is to extend it from the butt.

Adding weight, such as with guides and long underwraps doesn't change the action - but it does change the speed. It will make the speed slower - the rod will be less crisp and will react and recover more slowly. It will feel and act softer.

.................

FOr your first order of blanks, you should get 1 or 2. Until you fogure out what is what, you're gonna end up with a lot of blanks you are not happy with.

James,
Like Billy said, you're getting way ahead of yourself!! One companies "fast" action is rarely the same as anothers. All that fast means is that the flex point is in the upper 1/3 of the blank. Order 1 or two of a brand/model and see if they fit what you want. Being brand new and not having any rods under your belt yet, you need to build a rod and note the difference between the blank and finished rod Ask here for input about particular manufacturer's models from people that are familiar with them.

What type of rod were these blanks intended for? Fast action is not necessarily the best for all techniques and species.

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

I never would have ordered as many as I did at once but I thought that they were a killer deal. Turns out big waste of my my money. Who knows maybe I can use them for practice or experiments or find someone who likes slow rods. Anyway, I understand what speed I like I just didn't know that different companies rated their blanks speeds different relative to others, I had read the translation that inflection in the upper third and quarter and half or whatever determines the speed. So I thought that the speeds would be consistent, turns out one companies mod fast is another companies mod slow or whatever one step below mod is. Go figure I ordered a cheap blank from Cabela's just for my first rod for practice and I like it more than the IM7 blanks that are supposed to be so nice. Ironic huh? I would have stuck with that one from cabela's but the one I like does not come any longer than 6' and I prefer between 6'6" and 7' for what kind of fishing I like to do. Now i know that I will be ordering that Rainshadow extra fast blank that you guys told me about, I knew I would like it I just didn't think I should buy it since I had like 8 blanks that hadn't been built on, but now I will defanitely be contacting custom tackle supply. Thank you everyone, I thought I was pretty much crap out of luck on making it faster, I wish that the rods were not already at the max length that I like. Thanks for the wisdom.
James

Its not going to make a slow rod fast but I have used heavy guides to slow down the action of a rod so If you used light guides and small wraps and maybe even doing a spiral and using less guides could help but its not going to make it like a pool cue just less like a willow switch.

James,
I feel your pain. I have done that before and ended up just building a bunch of spec rods with ok guides just to clear the inventory.
However, it worked out all right.

In fact, some of the original customers that wanted the faster tipped rods, were much happier with the slower tipped rod. They had picked up a faster tipped rod later, but they ended up using the slower tipped rod most of the time.

So, sometimes things work ut better than one might imagine.

Take care
Roger

If you can read this and get to under stand it, you can measure any rod blank, re-measure it and KNOW what will happen BEFORE you cut . best thing since sliced bread : [www.common-cents.info]

James,

Speed and action are two completely different dharacteristics. Action is determined by the flex point of the blanks, nothing else. Speed is generally the recovery rate of the blank.

IM 6,7, etc has nothing to do with action or quality of the blank. The design/taper determine that! Only experience can tell you the characteristic of a particular blank

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/26/2008 08:09PM by Mike Barkley.

James, since you seem to have so many of these blanks, try an experiment. If the tip size is already small, 5.0 or less, cut off 1" from the tip and see how much the action changes. If not enough, cut another 1/2" to 1" off again and see how it changes. If it speed up the blank to your liking add the same amount to the butt from a piece you cut from one of your other blanks. If they are all the same blank, the taper should match up nicely. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. You at least have some experimental blanks and will only ruin one or two if you don't like the product you end up with. Good luck. HAVE FUN. That's what this is all about!! Greg

James,
You can follow Gregs advice, or to the same thing without cutting the blank.
You can achieve the same thing, by simply typing a guide an inch, two inches, three inches, or etc. etc. down the blank to check the change in the rods characteristics.

This is done, without damaging or changing the original blank.

If you do find that you like the tip somewhere other than as delivered, you can always chop it to that length after doing your tests.

In the world of walleye fishing where is light fast tip is normally desired when building a jig stick, it is normally a very very very bad idea to trip the tip.
For rods that have a light, or medium light power - much of the rods sensitivity , touch and feel is in the tips last one or two inches. Normally, by cutting one or two inches off the tips of these very sensitive blanks, the blank is effectivly ruined.

On the other hand, if you happen to have a medium light rod, and want to increase the power to a medium - often trimming some length off the tip is just fine.

However, when we are doing fine tuning on rod blanks, we normally work in 1/4 inch increments on some of the fine tipped blanks, to be sure that we don't trim too much too soon.

Take care
Roger

Like everyone says....it cant be done, its impossible.

NERB that types with a bar of Ivory soap in his mouth.

For the easiest answer and consideration of your question follow Bill
Boettcher's advice above and view the www.common-cents data site that he recommends.

Stan Grace
Helena, MT
"Our best is none too good"

Since jerk-bait rods and crankbait rods generally run slower than most others, and in graphite they are very nice, light, easy casting rods, maybe you can try your slower blanks out for those techniques. If you can't fix it, feature it.