Hello all. I am building on a NFC St 964-2. I will be using a carbon tube rear grip and was thinking of
installing a bird cage hood in lieu of a foregrip. I have tried searches and couldn't come up with much.
Anyone use these before? Thoughts? Installation tricks I should know about? This is my first attempt
at an MVT Toray seat and I want to get it right. Thanks.

Robert ford

Excellent reel seat, just don't depend on their ID's being true to size. Example: A 13.5 mm seat IF it were true to size, would have an ID of .531" (give or take a couple of .0001" I've had two of them that exceeded that dimension. One of them by .008", the other by .011. That may not seem like a whole lot, but when you consider the blanks I was installing them on had a taper of .005" per 1" of run. It meant in my particular cases, that the seat slid between 1 1/2 - 2" further towards the butt of the blank than I wanted them to.

Certainly I could have built up the blank to make the seats fit snug at the point I wanted them to, but that is not IMO, the way that type of reel seat should fit. When I personally purchase that type of seat, I am purchasing it for added sensitivity. After all MVT stands for maximum vibration transmission. Mounting it in contact with something other than the rod blank, does not afford maximum vibration transmission.

As I said I absolutely love the seat, and will continue using them, but I will either request that the supplier check the seat to be true to size, or simply order the next half size smaller and ream it to fit. I haven't used the birdcage hoods, they look cool, but they're a little more bling than I normally like.

Thanks for your reply yeah not sure how those look in person . I am just trying to come up with a solution to not having a matching tapered foregrip in carbon fiber for the rear grip I plan to install so I am entertaining ideas.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/01/2019 03:44AM by Robert Ford.

unless you are building for "pretty"
and if you don't need the for grip for holding onto.

And if you want to better take advantage of the sensitivity that MVT seats can provide.
I would suggest staying with the standard hood and not use a for grip

Well I kinda want pretty lol

Have checked out the originals, the Fuji Perfect Fit? They have installation instruction videos on Youtube, bet it's not far off the mark. You want pics of what it will look like on your rod with a reel? Check out the Edge Rods site in the bass and Delta sections.

Robert,
I use the Alps seats a ton...they are very nice and the looks have sold themselves on numerous occasions. The MVT graphite hoods are sweet...be careful when ordering from getbit, there part numbers can throw you...If you look at the silver and titanium models the part numbers are reversed. I have been meaning to call them and let them know...I have received the opposite one I have ordered before...luckily I have plenty laying around...They are good guys and will take care of you. If you look at their web page in the grip section you will see a complete rod with the alps full system (minus the birdcage) if you add the silver carbon birdcage it creates about the best looking rod I've ever seen...I have built many copying this build...Also the same way with the titanium and red colors....The aluminum butt-cap is a nice touch I use as well.
One other thing to keep in mind is that the Textouch and the MVT models use different materials in the build (I assume) and the black does not match between the two...if you buy the MVT...get the MVT hood and vice versa. They will work, they just will not match perfectly.

Hope this helps