I haven't build a rod for fifteen years and got the itch to start back up. I have ordered a rod kit from Cabeles and started the process. The one thing I have noticed is that in the past most of the rods I had built had the butt end of the grip hollwed out so that the reel seat would actully slide up inside the base of the grip. The kit I purchased, which is a 9' 6" 7 wt,, has no cut out. Are you to just butt the end of the reel seat up against the grip or am I to carve out the end of the grip to let it recess inside? Will I get the same rigidity in the seat if I just butt it against the grip?

Any thoughts would be apprecatied.

Tom

Some grips are still recessed, others are not, I have not built a recessed seat yet, All my fly rods have the seat butted against the bottom of the grip. I will however be inletting my next grip on an 8wt for a skeleton seat. It's all how you want to build it.

Some seats are made to have their forward hood buried into the rear of the grip. Others are not. It all depends on seat you'll be working with.

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

Tom,
If you have a flush tip end of your rear grip and have an inset space in your rod grip you have three choices.

1. Simply take the rear grip, butt it up to the reel seat and glue it in place.

2. Put the rear grip on a lathe, and cut a tenon into the current grip so that it is a perfect stable fit on the inside of the grip.

3. Take another piece of material, arbor, cork ring or similar, turn it to size and sand it to the thickness of the reel seat inset and when gluing the rear grip in place glue the insert, the rear grip and reel seat all together at the same time. This will fill the space at the back of the reel seat. But, if the insert is not glued to the rear grip first, it doesn't help to center the grip on the rod.

You are right, it is nice to have the tneon turned in to the grip to help center the grip with respect to the reel seat. Then, even if you happen to over ream the grip a bit before gluing, you will still have a perfectly centered rear grip.

One thing that helps a great deal - using unmodified grips is to ream very very carefully, to insure that your grip center hole stays centered, and that the center hole does not get overreamed to insure a nice fit on the rod blank. Another thing that helps is to insure that the tip end of the rear grip is finished off at exactly 90 degrees to give a perfect fit on the rear grip - reel seat interface.

Take care
Roger

If you over ream and they are a little loose, about 1/2' from the end of them you can make an arbor to keep them centered with several turns of 1/4' tape.

Bill - willierods.com

If you over ream and they are a little loose, about 1/2' from the end of them you can make an arbor to keep them centered with several turns of 1/4' tape.

Bill - willierods.com

All of my rods have uplocking reel seats recessed into the back of the grip. I like the neat, finished appearance. I don't have a lathe, so I use a Dremel-like tool with a 1/2 in. sanding drum-bit to gradually and carefully open up an inlet of the proper dia at the butt of the grip. I also like to use reel seats the have a flange, or collar that sits against this inlet opening and covers any slight imperfections after seating and gluing. Go slow, check fit frequently, and don't sneeze.