On an 11 foot, 2-5 oz surf rod I placed the reel seat 3.5 inches too high.
Would the finished rod suffer if I cut the difference on the butt of the blank or do you guys recommend removing the reel seat and replacing the reel seat?

You indicate that the reel seat is 3.5 inches too high.

Why does the 3.5 inches matter for this rod. With a long surf rod, the position of the reel seat is only important for a couple of reasons. By having the reel 3.5 inches higher, the rod will not be so tip heavy.

The extra 3.5 inches effective grip length will also give you a longer handle with more leverage to allow you to cast further.

In any event, I would not cut off the handle. Rather, I would cut off the reel seat and put it where you want to put it.

With a surf rod, I want to keep all of the length that is in the blank.

Be safe

Against that overall length, 3.5 inches isn't a huge amount. On the other hand, you have to decide if the total length you had originally is important to you.

Cutting that short amount from the butt will give you a rod with a little slower action and a little less overall power, but the difference will be slight.

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How high up from the butt is the center of the reel seat?

The stem of the reel/center lands at 28 inches.

is the seat carbon or metal ?? you might be able to heat it with a heat gun and loosen it up enough to slide it down to the butt and replace the fore grip.
as Tom stated if you choose to cut it off it would change the power some what

The best day to be alive is always tomorrow !!
Think out side the box when all else fails !!!
Wi.

It was a fuji DNPSD on a Century Sling Shot 1327.

The heat gun didn't work so I used a hack saw and spiral cut it. Kind of cool actually, never did that before.

Thanks for the replies!

Always remember that the same heat it may take to break the bond between reel seat and blank, may also break the bond between the carbon and the resin in the blank. Be careful using heat in these type situations.

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Do I need to worry about that with heat shrink grip tubing? I was going to put some directly on the blank.

Luis,
The heat required to shrink tubing is much less than that that would be required to damage the resin bond in the blank.

Good luck

Luis

Cut off the 3 1/2 inches, only you will know.

John