A friend of mine just gave me an AMSH 1141-2 blank that he wants to be a bait caster for trout. I told him I thought it would work better with an acid wrap. At least I could space out the tip guides a little further, but he wants the guides on top as a conventional casting rod. I haven't really started anything with it yet, just got it home today.
My problem is when I do a static guide distribution I imagine it will need lots of guides to keep the line off the blank, which would pretty much kill any sensitivity in the tip area. Am I off on this? Maybe with the light line it won't be so bad.
I am sure others have built on these blanks. Your suggestions?
Since he is a friend I offered to build it for him no labor, he just needs to pay for any materials. I figure he should get a nice rod and I will get some more experience.

Hi Andy,

This is an excellent blank, I love them but I build them all into spinning rods. As you have noticed the action does not lend well to conventional guide layouts. The spiral wrap is really the way to go for this build. But,,, if you have to keep the guides on top I wouldn't worry too much about the line touching down, you might not be able to keep it off the blank no matter how many guides you add. With this said, I would not put a ton of guides on this rod but I would go titanium frames. Since your friend is not paying labor maybe he would want to go the titanium route. Our NIRLF's have small foot prints with a slight arrow shape to help prevent pull-outs and the material will weigh less then stainless and add flexibility. Not knowing what reeI or handle style he wants I would use the standard stripper sizing and quickly drop down to the single foot fly guides, going small to a 5mm.

I am sure you can get great options from other guys on the board but this is the way I would do it at first thought.

Best Regards,

Darrin Heim
American Tackle Company

He wants a long cork grip, ~12" - 14", and will use a low profile baitcaster like a Shimano bantam, a Pinnacle Inertia, or something similar. He talked about recoil guides, but isn't sure. I haven't used them but they look pretty light. Maybe a butt guide and tip top with an insert since I understand the recoils tend to get grooves.
Thanks for the response. Anyone else?

Hi Andy,

Sounds fairly standard for a long casting type of rod. I would still use a 12mm stripper and then go to single foot guides down to the 5mm sizes. My choice would be to stick with titanium frames, ours of course but at least Fuji's (Fuji's only if you have to, I feel our guides have differences that are better). I don't use the REC guides so I can't necessarily comment on them. I quit using the twisted wire frame style of guides back in the mid-80's. I prefer smooth ceramic ring guides and I believe our Ringlock Titans can't be beat.

Was hoping to see other ideas here. Good luck with the build.

Darrin Heim
American Tackle Company

Thanks. I talked with him some today and he is OK with an acid wrap. That should help me to keep the weight off the tip area. And I was wrong about the recoils, he wants those on a different rod for steelhead. So, I will be looking at ceramic inserts, something light.
Also, this blank measures at ~9.2 for a reel seat at 12" to 14" up from the butt, so I need 9. I was thinking of a minima style seat. Some styles only go down to a 9.5 though.
Maybe I can do a simple single layer wrap at the seat area to build it up just a bit. I can use the opportunity for something decorative to match a simple butt wrap and the guide wraps to tie things in together.
I am thinking a simple single layer wrap under the seat area to thicken it slightly would not have much affect on blank sensitivity, or am I wrong on that?
Andy K

Hi Andy,

I hope you got my email and it's not too confusing.

Regarding the seat, if the blank OD is 9.2 then a 9.5 seat ID is just fine. You shouldn't have to, but if you do wrap under it, I doubt you would loose noticable sensitivity. I don't use that style of seat, I have cut standard seats into skeletons before to acheive the no body feel but I prefer something more to grab on to. Good luck with the project.

Darrin Heim
American Tackle Company

Personally I don't like the feel of the narrow blanks going through a skeleton seat, much prefer the blank thru seat. I really like the 1141 style blanks as casting rods, some of my business comes from guys that used to own the old G Loomis casting versions.

Hi Darrin,

Would you say that this blank is rated light or medium light for steelhead fishing?

How's the blank's backbone?