Hello all. I’m new here.

I came looking for advise on how to modify a rod handed down to me by my grandfather. It’s a Wright & McGill “Sweetheart” 6’ casting rod. It is two piece, the rod section and the reel seat/handle section. The handle section is the “drop” type and its not comfortable to cast or fish with.

The butt end of the rod section has a ferrule that mates to the handle section. I assume there is a way to mate the rod to a new reel seat and handle, but I’m not sure how to do this. I have built one rod before. It was a spinning rod and that was around 1978-79 or so. I fished that rod enough to wear a groove in the guide closest to the reel. Anyway.....

The current handle is 18” in overall length with the reel seat starting 5” back. It’s cork and I would prefer using cork. Is it a matter of removing the rod ferrule, measuring it’s O D and finding a reel seat section with a matching I D and adhere them? Or build a reel seat section that accepts the existing ferrule?

Thanks for any advice or suggestions.

Warren

Go to our library and look for the article on extending rod blanks. See if that's got any relevance to what you want to do. Your ferrule may not need to come off.

Warren best of luck to you on extending your rod.

Tom

tomscustomrods.com

Tom Wewerka Wrote:
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> Warren best of luck to you on extending your
> rod.
>
> Tom
>
> tomscustomrods.com

Tom,

I’m actually still going to send it to you.

Thanks

With the gracious help from Tom I added an extension to the handle. I used a 19” carbon fiber tube section found on Amazon. The ID of the tube I bought was just large enough to get a few wraps of mesh tape on for arbors. The OD was a fraction over 16mm, so I used a #17 reel seat. Reaming the cork out that large was a challenge but got it done with progressively larger drill bits up to 1/2” and finished it with sand paper a strip glued to a hard wood dowel. When finished the handle section was 17.25 inches.

I was able to get out today with it for the first time and caught some Stripers live lining spot. Pictured is the first fish caught on my new old rod. I really like how it turned out. Thanks to those who offered advice and thanks again to Tom for reaching out and helping me along.

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