Gentleman,

I have good old, black Seeker model SBS655 6'6" 1 8-17 lb. 3/8 - 3/4 oz. 5.0 0.705 3.07 I am very happy with. Unfortuantelly I am not able to source this blank anywhere... so I am looking for a replacement. Can you help and suggest sth ?

I've browsed webites and found following, but have no idea how are these in comparison to my seeker:

Gen 2 MHX S-Glass
SSP844-MHX 7'0" 1 8-15 lb. 1/4 - 5/8 oz. MH MF 6.0 0.67


Phenix’s Composite X
X9-Composite-B 7? 6-15 lb 1/8-7/8 oz 1 Moderate 5.5 0.545
X10-Composite-B 7? 8-20 lb 1/4-1oz 1 Moderate 5.5 0.545

RodGeeks
SG70MHM MH 8 - 20 lb. 3/8 - 1 oz. 5.5 0.583"

Best regards,
Pavel



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/05/2020 10:25AM by Pawel Tymendorf.

Rod blanks are marketed by the emotional response they are supposed to produce: "smooth" or "delightful" or "powerful" or "soulful" - not by physical, quantifiable properties. You will not be able to find any useful, concrete information about a rod blank beyond its length, weight, and price. Please enlighten rod builders if you find any other objective facts about rod blanks.

r



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/05/2020 11:46AM by Phil Ewanicki.

I have to disagree. I don't think that it is all limited to comparison of physical dimensions of the blank. There are features of the blank that are very hard to measure but an experienced rodbuilder / angler can name them, epecially when comparing two blanks. And that is what I am hoping for in this topic ;)

I simply try to find blank the most similiar to seeker model SBS655 in terms of performance, since I am not able to source the orginal.

Best regards,
Pavel



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/05/2020 12:07PM by Pawel Tymendorf.

The BS706 S-glass blank from Seeker might be worth a look. The 7’ and 7’6” models are the same blank trimmed to different lengths. Based on the dimensions of your blank I would not be surprised if it was rolled on the same mandrel and cut to 6’6”. I’ll see if I can dig up my calipers and make a measurement 6” from the butt for you.

About 6" from the butt of a BS706 S-glass measures about 0.745. It's definitely not cut from the same blank, but may well be worth a look. I use mine for throwing crank baits weighing in from about 1/4 oz up to about 3/4 oz. It will handle the weight range that you are looking at. The line range, I think was listed at 10-20, if I recall correctly.

What applications are you using the rod for?

Thank you Joe, that was very smart, I should have thought of it !

Currently I have a spinning rod on SBS655 and would like to make a second rod as a baitcaster. Applications: 1/4-3/8 oz crankbaits (2"-.2.5" , shallow or medium diver ), 3/8-1/2 oz minnows (3.5"-4.5", shallow or lipless ), 1/4-1/2 oz chatterbaits, some poppers/surface baits 2"-3" . I plan to pair this rod with Daiwa Zillion SV TW 1016 reel.

The feature I like in SBS655 is that due to the big taper the blank is "quick" for the glass rod, it is not "whippy", it is surprisingly well balanced in hand and hold the fish very good.


edit: what is the tip of 706 ? 5? 5.5 ? 6 ? you are referring to the black or green version ?

Best regards,
Pavel



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 08/05/2020 01:43PM by Pawel Tymendorf.

It’s a 5.5 top I believe and was a snug fit. The one I use is the green version. It should compliment the 655 well. I don’t pull out the bigger deep divers often but it will handle them. Most of my regular use is in line with yours.

The characteristics that you like about the 655 are the ones I like about the 706.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/05/2020 01:52PM by Joe Vanfossen.

And you don't feel that it is too powerfull / bulky for lighter lure ? 655 was rated 17 lb (and later they changed it to 15lb) and 706 is a 20 lb blank...

Best regards,
Pavel

I don't feel it's too much for the lighter lures. I was a little wary of the line rating a bit before I bought the blank. I discussed it a lot with the late Bill Stevens before I pulled the trigger, and I wasn't disappointed. Mine started its life as a Rich Forhan Legacy Elite 765 from Swampland. What that blank actually was is an untrimmed BS756 S-glass. The blank came in around 7'8" long. I trimmed the tip to get the tip stiffness where I wanted it. I trimmed from the butt to reach the 7' length. What I ended up with was a blank that matched the 706 specs across the board, down to the thousandth on butt diameter. The way I chose where to do the tip trim was laying my hand along the tip at different points and flexing until that initial flex matched my favorite rod at the time for throwing crankbaits (The rod I used for a tip strength reference was a 4 power moderate action rod from Falcon, FC-4-166, 1/4-1/2oz lure rating.). The 706 allowed me to throw everything I did on the Falcon just as well, and added to the upper end of the range quite a bit.

The tip is soft enough and with the taper designed the way it is, it handles a broad range of lures very well. Fish stay buttoned up very well. The line rating is a bit overblown on the 706, I think and is more an indicator of the fact that bass anglers will use oversized lines for abrasion resistance. It's really that aggressive taper in the butt section that allows the rod to have low end power to handle larger lures and heavier lines, but the upper half offers up a fairly soft tip for casting lighter lures and the shock absorption needed to keep fish hooked up.

Mine currently has a Shimano Citica 200 from the late 90s/early 2Ks spooled with 10lb mono. It will launch a Strike King series 3 further than I trust myself to set the hook. The only time I find it a little bulky is if I'm fishing walking lures for long periods of time. I'll swap them over to a fast or extra fast action graphite rod and deal with the hooks pulling out on occasion when I get a little fatigued.

Give the 706 a try, I think you'll like it a lot.

Hi Joe,

I would like to hear anything else you might have to say about the way this rod fishes. Over the years, I've read its praises, often. I'm thinking of building one for myself. Does the large butt diameter feel awkward; or, is it something you get used to? What type of handle arrangement did you opt for? What about guides?

Thanks,

Hi Joe,

Saw your response to my other post; so, no need to respond to this one.

Thanks

Pawel,

Just stumbled across this:

[www.anglersworkshop.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/08/2020 07:26PM by Joe Vanfossen.

Joe, I started from this point :) if you try to add blank to the cart it say it is not available. That is how my search and this topic begun ;)

In the meantime, I also stumbled across sth.. NFC Zentron (Delta) hybryd blanks, namely CB704 - specs look ideal... what do you think?

Best regards,
Pavel

The NFC looks like a good blank, but I've never built or fished the Loomis or NFC crank bait blanks to have impressions on them either way.

My closest friend finally gave in and started building some rods. He fishes a ton of cranks, and loves his Batson REVCB70M cranking rods. Prefer the glass rods I use. I can say that I have the 6'6" M power RX7 cranking blank from before the rebranding and retooling that came with the Revalation line. I found that particular blank to be a limp noodle. I didn't have the power to set the hook, so pretty much all of my fish were lightly hooked with the rear treble. On the positive side, those lightly hooked fish rarely came off. The rod was excellent at keeping fish hooked up, just not great at hooking them securely. So if you consider the Revalation, I would tend to shoot for the longer blank in that line.

I've had a lot of luck with the rodgeeks SG70mhm blank. Pretty darn close to the seeker BS706.. excellent blank for a nice price..