I'm in bed recovering from cancer treatment and tend to spend a lot of time on YouTube. I recently came across videos by Japanese custom rod builders and am fascinated about how they do many things differently than I am accustomed to.
Handles seem to be built on a graphite tube and then the tube is slid over the rod butt and epoxied. 
Multiple coats of thread epoxy and what I think is two part urethane are applied to the entire rod and usually wet sanded with fine grade sandpaper and rubbing compound.These finishes are frequently tinted or have fine glitter added. The result may be a little garish for Western tastes but is certainly striking and unique.
Painting components like reel seats using various painting techniques gives interesting looks and can be quite attractive.
The use of gold leaf and other colors can bring some bling to a rod that can easily be varied from mild to wild. 
If you're interested in looking at these techniques this seems to show them pretty well. There is virtually no English but you'll be able to follow along easily [youtu.be]

Guy Taylor

All of the techniques shown, including the use of gold leaf, have been covered in RodMaker Magazine over the years. If you need written instructions you can still get many of the articles in the available back issues.

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Multiple coats of epoxy and paint with fancy thread wrappings produce a nice rod for display but a poor rod for casting to catch fish. Added weight and embellishment do not harm the performance of trolling rods or ice-fishing rods.

It looks like it took him a month to finish it. The embellishments most likely doubled the weight of the finished rod. We certainly do have different taste than the Japanese, but the guy is an artist.

Randy "Putter" Parpart showed marbling, gold leaf, and feather inlet to me and others maybe 15 years ago at the Lamiglas sponsored rod building event.

My mistake. Although I built my first rod in the 70's I have obviously not kept abreast of all rod building techniques and methods. My apologies for thinking this application of these old things may be of interest.
I know coating the entire blank is widely discouraged here. I just thought it was an interesting process and result.

Guy Taylor

Nice reception guys!

"The greatest barrier to discovery is not ignorance, it's the illusion of knowledge" - Daniel J. Boorstin

Guy,

I hope your treatment was successful, and here's to a lifetime of remission!

The level of artistry in that rod was very impressive. I'm amazed that he added that many embellishments and did so in a way that looked great at the end. My daughter would be begging for one just like it if she saw it.

People build fishing rods for many reasons; catching fish is only one of them.

Apparently we Americans love to ream. The Japanese, not so much.

Guy,
No one has a handle on all rod building, and it never hurts to be reminded of known techniques that we have not used a lot, if at all. Being reminded of things I can do to get out of my building rut is a good thing.

I like the way he made the water slide decals without an ALPS.

Dennis J. Danku
(Sayreville,NJ)

I forget the name of the tiny fish (three-inches was a lunker), but I watched a video of a Japanese master builder who built (something like) an eight piece rod out of raw bamboo to catch them. I was gob-smacked by the craftsmanship and detail! He built these rods in a hundreds-of-years-old tradition for fishing for this species. Talk about your technique-specific builds!!

If nothing else, it gave me an appreciation of the art and value of traditional crafts.

Thank you for sharing, Guy!

That was awesome !!! And a serious amount of work that went into that rod.

I think the rod was beautiful. The painting of the blank in the reel seat window or whatever you want to call it, is definitely something I want to give a shot doing. That was cool looking.

Crazy craftsmanship right there. Definitely an artist creating a work of art.

Thanks for sharing that Guy.

Guy, thx for the video, good luck with your recovery.