Hey everyone!


I'm a beginner rod builder (in my 30s) and I am working on making my first custom build from top to bottom. I've been a fisherman since I could walk, but I never dived into the intricacies of more advanced fishing. I've recently grabbed a few spinning rods/reels and have been fishing heavily the last few months (focusing on finesse ned/neko rigs, worming texas/carolina, and sm/md crankbaits and some jig setups.) I've repaired a few guides by hand with no building equipment, and I greatly enjoyed the intricacy to thread wrapping. Immediately purchased the book Custom Rod Building by Dale Clemens and I'm looking forward to getting my first 100% build started.

I thoroughly enjoy reading, and I know building a rod correctly takes a lot of time, research, and effort...

What I am looking for is someone experienced to look at my build/shopping cart @ mudhole.com (no credit card attached) and make sure all the components should fit. I am most concerned about the Fugi reel seat, decorative ring, fore grip, fighting butt - will fit the blank I've chosen..

If any of you are willing to double check my build so I am good to go with my materials I would greatly appreciate it. From there, I will come back if I need more specific questions answered, but after I've read and researched the problem.

Anyone interested to help, I will PM you my log in info for mudhole.com and I can also email a schematic of my build.


Thank you all, and I look forward to sharing my build when it's completed!


Sincerely,

Matthew Schafer

Best way is to just ask Mudhole to select the winding checks, reelseat, if exposed blank, etc. before shipping it to you, you just need to tell them how long your rear grip will be. Whether you, or me you need that info to order.

Gotcha, I think I'm going to remove this post because I already made some changes... still have some understanding to get down before I pull the trigger..

Thank you for responding!

Trust your retailer on this info, just in case something is wrong you can avoid the cost of return shipping. I don't think any third party would want to get involved in that.

Dennis J. Danku
(Sayreville,NJ)

Mathew, I know that the book you bought tells you that finding the spine of the rod blank is important, but it isn't. Use the search function on this web site and do a simple search relating to blank spine and you will have plenty of reading to do. I think after reading the various threads, you'll find that building on the straightest axis of the blank is what you're going to want to do.

Awesome, that's good information about the spine. I appreciate all the input for sure.. Experience trumps all, that's why I'm reaching out!

And that makes sense not wanting to step in like that, looking to have someone review my rod build... but there's better ways of doing that..


I greatly appreciate all pointers, and it's great to know this community is so responsive!

I disagree that finding the spine is unimportant. Please see my post on the spine thread for my reasons why. You will see where different folks will tell you to purchase an inexpensive rod blank when first starting. I disagree with that as well. A good blank will still perform better than a cheap blank, even with minor building errors. Rod building isn't as difficult as some make it seem. Find the spine, and belly of the blank, mark them, and line up the guides appropriately. Use quality guides. I prefer Fuji, Concept, and American Tackle Microwave guides, with Sic, or Duralight inserts, respectively.

You can purchase kits from Winston, CTS, Batson, Echo, Sage,and and others. All of the parts are great quality components, ensuring that all parts will fit together properly. Get good tools. They will save you a great deal of time. Get the best adhesives. and threads. Me, I prefer CTS and Winston blanks. Read the library here for info on spines, om adhesives, on preparing the guides, and on loasing the blank to find the proper guide spacing.

Don't look at your first build as a learning or practice build. Look s it as the first of many quality builds.

Tight lines and frisky fish

RJF

Mathew
Don't worry about the spine. That book is a good book and has a lot of good information in it. The spine was written about fiberglass blanks that had a prominent spine and in certain applications it probably was good information. With today's modern graphite and manufacturing many time you can find the spine or you may feel several different spines. If you want to build on it fine if you don't don't worry about it. I have been building for 30 plus years used to build on the spine exclusively. Now I don't worry about it. I can't tell the difference between a rod built on the spine and one that wasn't. There are a lot of good inexpensive blanks out there find one and build and enjoy the rod you build. A little thing to remember this is called CUSTOM RODBUILDING build it the way you want to build it. I have built on Winston, Batson, St. Croix, Talon, Sage, several independent maker (Sevier). They all were good blanks and the people built them for are all very happy with them.
Remember if you aren't having fun it's not worth doing.