I have two fly rods built on the first St. Croix SCV (Elite) blanks with the gloss brown finish. I like the rods but the finish is soft, hard to match thread colors to and ugly (to my eyes) as sin. Has anyone stripped these blanks down? Would I get a nice graphite grey finish if I stripped them and buffed with wet sandpaper or something like that?

Yes, the finish would be natural graphite or charcoal grey. But you may be voiding any warranty if you do that.

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James,
If you use the non NCP medium brown nylon from any of the various manufacturers, I think you will find that you have a perfect match on the blank color.
Then, shades of green and gold make a very pretty contrast.

If you like, you can pick up one of the new 2009 SCV blanks which have the new color that you may find more pleasant to your eyes.

Or, if you like, you can strip and buff the blank and have a nice matt charcoal finish that is very similar to the Loomis IMX finish.

Good luck,
Roger

Thanks guys. I like the way the rods cast. I broke one last week. My fault. It could be a good time to renovate it though. I will probably stick with the finish, and go with your ideas Roger.