Have been reading the forum for a few months & reading, etc. I bought stuff for 2 rods at High Point. Question is about handles. What is the proper terminology for a spin handle/reel seat where the fore grip turns & locks the reel? A number of my older rods have this & seem to be very comfortable. The bare reel seat looks to me like it would not be as comfortable. Opinions??
Bill

Hard to beat a basic Fuji, but it's your rod, build it the way you want. Remember that on a typical spinning seat like a Fuji DPSM the threads go toward the butt, thus making it an "uplocking" seat. Meaning that as you tighten the seat, the hood is moving forward, or up toward the tiptop. Just as I say that many will bust my chops because many other styles of seats are different and are mounted differently. The old Wiebbie seat (now Super Sticker) have the tread body in front, so they would be a downlocking seat. Just look at a rod catalog like Cabela'a or Bass Pro and see if you see something YOU like.

Fuji does make a seat with the cork foregrip as the down locking hood part. It's called "Quick Lock". I believe there are other companies that make them as well.

Check out Mud Hole. They have the two types there.

Bill - willierods.com

Everyone has their own opinions and I suggest in time you will develop yours. You will develop opinions/preferences that also will depend on the specific function of the rod.

I have used conventional spinning reel seats for years and found them to be comfortable for me. I've also used the design you mention, and it is also comfortable. I prefer the conventional seats to be uplocking, especially on jigging rods. If you do uplocking conventional reel seats on a jigging rod you can put an epoxy ramp right in front of the reel seat which allows you to contact the blank with your fingers while jigging. The seat you are talking about is comfortable all right, but I prefer the design mentioned above for jigging.

I just completed a salmon rod and the requirements for it were entirely different. I wanted a substantial foregrip for hangin onto when the fish are running, so I made the foregrip pretty large in diameter and about 3 inches long, with a tapering epoxy ramp in front that makes it very comfortable and easily gripped. Different functions, different design.

If you use an expoxy ramp it is a natural place to put a feather inlay.

One other factor to consider is the diameter of the reel seat. The salmon rod has an 18mm NPS, which is larger than most reel seats and contoured for good comfort. I made it uplocking again so that I could make the foregrip just what I wanted without having to contend with the locking threads.

One bit of advice is to not get locked into what conventional rods have been over the years. Think freely about what can be done to make the rods just what you want them to be.

Another is, study the Fuji Concept method of sizing and spacing spinning rod guides-look in the library on this site. It really works for casting ease, it gives the lightest most responsive rod, and uses the least different sizes of guides, most of them small and easy to wind.

I learn something new every time I come to this site, every time I read the magazine, and every time I build another rod.

I understand what he is saying. A lot of people, myself included, hold a spinning rod with the reel leg between their middle two fingers. And a seat that integrates the foregrip with the locking nut is far more comfortable. Also wit a standard seat the nut often works its self loose.