I see all kinds of info about installing tape arbors (several types of tape) on rod reel seats, but have seen very little about gluing a factory arbor inside the reel seat in split grip seats.
Question 1: is there any difference in strength of factory made arbors made from polyurethane or graphite:
Question 2: is an arbor made from from tape any better than the arbor being installed inside the reel seat seat & then reamed to fit?

I am building a rod using a RodGeeks class 4 musky blank for myself to use when fishing for blue catfish up to 50#. The waters where I fish very seldom give up catfish flat head or blue cats over 50#.
I can look back to fishing in 1945 & have developed problems that make using graphite rods much more comfortable than the fiberglass as I read is the best for cats..

I use the arbors myself, and on the heavier freshwater rods, you should be just fine. I believe I've seen posts where the white polyurethane arbors will compress and have the opening stretch out on the end of the arbor toward the tip when powerful rods are flexed all the way into the handle. Given the choice between the two, for heavier applications I would lean toward the graphite colored arbors. They are quite hard and significantly more difficult to ream than the white arbors.

People like the tape arbors because they can create gaps to get epoxy all of the way to the blank, but the truth is a thin epoxy joint is best. If you like epoxy going all of the way to the blank, cut the arbor into thirds and leave 1/8" - 1/4" gaps that you can fill with epoxy when mounting the seat.

At the end of the day, the purpose of the arbor is to take up space. You have a variety of choices, thread for small gaps, masking tape, drywall tape, foam arbors, cardboard tube arbors, cork, fiberglass or graphite blank sections sleeved over top, or just about anything you can think of. If you do a good job of fitting your materials and get solid epoxy joints, you will be just fine. The advantage of the foam arbors is that they are less dense than other options which helps save weight on a build.

I wouldn't use masking tape arbors on any rod I build.

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I frequently use masking tape arbors for rod builds, especially when very little in the way of arbors are required.
I simply put bands of tape in rows down the blank with a thin gap between each row. Then, when gluing up the reel seat, I make sure that there is epoxy from the reel seat to the blank through the thin slits between the rows of tape.
The epoxy completely encapsulates the masking tape and I simply have to say that I have never had a masking tape arbor fail.

Best wishes.

I used to swear against tape arbors also till I recently removed some from a rod I built in the early 80's. Now I'm not so sure! Still prefer graphite though. I've recently come across some Fuji arbors that I don't care for. NSA-16S , they're only 1 inch long.

Rex,
Some still use tape as an easy way to bush a seat. But it's a "clumsy" way to do it.
best to use a foam or graphite arbor.
But, I think it is a mistake to install the arbor into the reel seat and then ream it.
I install it onto the blank first and make very sure that it is concentric to the blank. That way you are assured that the seat will be concentric to the blank and the grip will fit better.
Herb,
CTS Rep

The chief advantage to a tape arbor is that it will be concentric with the reel seat to within thousandths of an inch. Unless you have access to a lathe you will be unable to achieve such precision with a foam shim, no matter what it is made of - not that such distances will have a measurable effect on the rod's performance.

Tom, please elaborate on why you will never use a tape arbor. Even if the space to be filled is only a small space that would be difficult to fill with a thin, fragile, polyurethane arbor? Or do you use something else for the really thin ones/? thanks,

Arbors are faster for me to size and install, and they are better than tape. Not affected by water intrusion. They are not fragile in any thickness. Remember, they are being bonded between the blank and the seat.

Otherwise you can spiral thread up the blank to act as a shim. Epoxy will tend to soak into the thread whereas masking tape has already been saturated with an adhesive (non waterproof).

The only reel seats I have ever seen come loose or fail completely, were mounted on masking tape.

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I also like and use foam arbors. I glue them in the reel seat and then ream to fit the blank. Doing it this way you will never split an arbor, just ream carefully. For very small gaps, I will a wrap or three of fiberglass mesh dry wall type. The mesh creates a very firm bond. I Don’t like using masking tape for arbors, I have had them fail. Never had a foam arbor or dry wall type fail, but that’s just my opinion.
Norm

thanks for the detail, Tom and Norm. I do find the poly shims to be fragile when thin, but Norm's method will fix that. I wrap the tape tightly and fully encapsulate them with epoxy and never have had a failure. Water won't get to the tape. Buit to be sure, I think I'll use tape only as a last resort now.