I JUST PURCHASED A AFAW 13' BEACH BLANK.I AM LOOKING TO BUILD IT, HOWEVER I HAVE NEVER BUILT A ROD LIKE THIS BEFORE. THE NORM FOR ME IS A 8-11' SURF RODS NOTHING THIS BIG.
CAN ANYBODY STEER ME IN THE RITE DIRECTION FOR STARTING. EX. WERE SHOULD I PLACE MY FIRST GUIDE,AND POSSIBLY GUIDE SIZES.ETC ANY HELP WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED.

Unhide you email and I will help you out, aslo are you looking for spinning or casting?

SORRY ABOUT THE EMAIL .I TOOK CARE OF IT. AND I AM LOOKING TO BUILD IT CONVENTIONAL.THANKS

Sent you an email

Me too!

THANKS GUYS YOU HAVE BEEN A GREAT HELP.EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED AND MORE.NOW I CAN GET STARTED.

I know I am late to the party but with surf rods, one of the biggest factors for starting a rod is how far up the blank you want the reel seat to be (or even if you want a reel seat).

A big problem for me with factory surf rods is that the reel seat is too close to the bottom of the blank. Usually around 28" or 30". I get better leverage when the reel seat is around 34 - 36" inches.

After I get my reel seat in place I try and get my first guide (from the reel) as far away as possible with out the line hitting the grips.

After that I use static loading to place the rest of the guides. I try and get down to my smallest sized guides as quickly as possible. Usually I only have 3 sizes of guides on my rods. The big first guide, a transition guide and then the running guides to the end.

Typically I do something like 30 -- 25 --- 16 -- 16 -- 16-- 16--16 or 25 --16 ---12---12--12--12--12--12.

I use big running guides because I stick to mono line and a shock leader that need to be tied together. 17lb main line tied to a 50 60 or 80 lb shock leader has a big knot no matter how you tie it (I personally use a two knot system spider hitch to no-name). I also use my surf rods with the size 16 guides when there is a lot of grass/weeds in the surf. Its a lot easier to deal with the weed balls when they don't get caught in the guides as easily.

HI JAMES, SORRY I HAVN'T BEEN ON IN A FEW DAYS. JUST WANTED TO THANK YOU FOR THE ADVISE AND LET YOU KNOW I AGREE I LIKE A LONGER BUTT ON ALL OF MY RODS AS WELL. FUNNY STORY I HAD A ROD BUILT FOR ME A WHILE AGO BEFORE I STARTED BUILDING MYSELF.THE ROD WAS A BEUTIFUL PIECE OF WORK HOWEVER I DID NOT UNDERSTAND WHY I DID NOT LIKE THE FEEL. TWO TIMES WHILE FISHING WITH THE ROD IT COMPLETELY FLEW OUT OF MY HANDS ON THE CAST BOTH TIMES IN TOTAL AMAZEMENT TO MY FISHING PARTNER. I NEVER KNEW WHY I THOUGHT IT COULD HAVE BEEN THE FACT THAT IT WAS AN ALL GLASS ROD AND MOST OF MY RODS WERE GRAFITE. I THOUGHT THE DIFFERENT FLEX CAUSED IT TO JUMP OUT OF MY HANDS.NEEDLESS TO SAY IT ENDED UP IN THE ROD RACK FOR MANY YEARS. IN THIS TIME I BEGAN BUILDING RODS MYSELF AND ONE DAY I MOVED THE REEL SEAT UP 3" INCHES ON THAT ROD AND NOW IT IS ONE OFF MY FAVORITE CASTING RODS. I GUESS THAT IS JUST AN EXAMPLE OF WHY PEOPLE SPEND MONEY ON CUSTOM RODS. WE GET TO PICK AND CHOOSE A PERFECT FEEL. WELL SORRY TO TALK YOU EAR OFF BUT THANKS AGAIN FOR THE HELP.