i read a post on another site about this and it sounded just like me. i have rod blanks that i have rebuilt 5 times. there are many reasons for this like no 1 when "powerhand baitcasting" came out i redid all my rods. 2 when new concept titanium sic guides came out, 3 when micro guides came out and 4 when i found i could cut down my reelseats to save weight. 5 when fuji came out with rapid choke i redid my spinning rods. sometimes it takes me 2 or 3 times before i love the blank/rod. i had a p 842 imx that was a casting rod twice and then a spinning rod but it didn't shine until i made it into a dropshot rapid choke light weight spinning rod. i loved it but now its gone and have spent all winter trying to find a suitable replacement. one thing i found out is you need a matte finish graphite blank to do this as painted blanks are unsuitable for this.

You are not alone Robert, i have stripped and rebuilt some of my rods multiple times. In fact just last week i have rebuilt a pair of rods that I first built in 1983. (don't laugh but they were early carbon carp blanks that i crosswrapped from butt to tip with strips cut from VHS tape!)

I rebuild for various reasons - sometimes for aesthetics, sometimes for performance, sometimes just to try something new.
Every now and again i'll rebuild a rod and end up with something that that just looks, feels and works beautiful (to me!), but even then its possible that a few years later my thoughts on it change and i mess with it again.

One thing i have to say is that if a rod has any sort of nostalgia or history attached to it then 9 times out of 10 any modifications ive made have been a mistake and I've had to rebuild AGAIN back to the original spec!

(glad to see its not just mad Englishmen that have this rebuild fetish)

Nope. I redid mine in micros. I took 2 that I bought at a garage sale for 5.00 ea., a Castaway 6'10 mhf and an old All Star(made in Houston) 7'0 Jiggin rod, both with slide in handles. I cut the cork, reelseats, and guides off and thru it all away. Glued a 6-8" pc of graphite in the butt of each so that I could move the the first guide back to normal measurements, took an ECS and skeletonized it and put a minima on the other and micros all the way up. Now I have two great rods that weigh just over 4.75 oz ea. Never in there wildest dreams did they ever weigh close to this when they were new. I fish with them daily when I bass fish. Was it cost effective for me to do this? Absolutely not! It was a winter project last year

This winter I had unexpected "vacation" after injury and surgery and was not able even leave the house for almost three months. I rebuilt all my ice fishing rods and 5 other rods including centerpin float rods and casting. Still working on two rods, will be 7 in total. Waiting for components. Wnen I just started building rods few years ago I rebuild almost all the rods I had to learn how to do it and different techniques. Now they been rebuilt at least twice. Will I rebuild them again later on? Absolutely!

I'll strip and rebuild at least half of my personal arsenal every winter. .as far as I'm concerned they are my buisness card..and I want new designs and components to show prospective customers. ..and I love doing it.

I am new to rod building and my work is improving but still not up to most of the guys on this site. I have rebuilt several rods to make them something that fits the way I fish now. For some reason I had 4 fly rods in the 5/6 line weight, I only used one of them, a Loomis GL4 if I remember correctly. It was a demo I bought several years ago. So the others got reworked to spinning rods, good practice and something to do this exceptionally cold winter. Still waiting for the shelf ice to melt.

I also rebuild and "improve" my rods. I even had several in mind to put new guide trains on and now I will use a new Fuji bottom guide before I even get started! Also I changed the split grips on an older GUSA to EVA I got two years ago from Billy V. This was a pretty easy project and I really like the results. The improvement I do most is new guides as the micro guides developed. Now a size 6 looks like a basketball goal!

i know from experience that guides are alot safer to replace. having broken 3 rods trying to get those weibe offset triggers off the first time i redid my imx's

I do the same thing also. Winter time is when I do this because I have more time. I enjoy trying to improve them in some way every now and then.

David Dosser
Coshocton, OH

Oh good, I'm normal. I thought I was the only one. =)

_________________________________________
"Angling is extremely time consuming.
That's sort of the whole point." - Thomas McGuane

Lol i rebuilt my personal rod 4times and planning for the 5th
don't know till when this blank can handle never ending stripping and sanding procedure