Ok, so I'm sure the first question might be why? It's a rod I've used for several years and it's beginning to show its age. One eye is damaged and needs replaced. When I first learned about rod building and the importance of the spine. I decided to check my store bought ones. Shocker, this one isn't on spine. There are other issues and I'm sure it would be more cost effective to pitch it and start over from a fresh quality blank. However, I'm a believer of the value of education and experience.

It's not a bad rod for what I paid for it. If I can expand my knowledge and ability while improving a sub par rod. Then it's worth it to me.

So what is the best or recommended way to get the rod down to a blank canvas again, so to speak.

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A little heat from a hair dryer or embossing gun may allow you to insert a bodkin or needle near the tunnel end of the thread wrap and through the last thread or two from the inside out. With rotation(s) the tag end can be pulled out to allow unwinding the thread. Gentle heat can aid in removing the remaining epoxy thread finish with a craft stick. Spine is not important to guide placement with most putting them on the straightest axis.

Is it painted?

You may want to do a search on this site concerning the importance of building on the spine of a blank. While some think it's important, I think you will come to find that it isn't important at all.

Building on the spine of a blank comes from times long past. When blank manufacturing processes weren't what they are today. If you're wanting to completely strip and rebuild the rod because you think you will improve its' performance by rebuilding it on the spine, you will be disappointed. It won't change the rod's performance at all.

Other than having the proper blank, the number one thing that will change a factory rod's performance over a rod you can build, is the guide train.

I would build on the straightest axis if it falls on the spine all well and good if it doesn't so be it I doubt if anyone will notice and neither will you.

Placing the guides in the same location is acceptable and will mask any scars from the removal of the original guides.

Keep the blank clean during all phases of the rebuild.

It will be good experience and give great satisfaction.

Have fun

The spine is of no importance. It does not keep the rod from twisting or torquing under load and it has no effect on casting accuracy. The straight axis does play an important role in putting the rod's strongest axis in position for obtained the maximum deadlift strength of the blank.

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Don’t worry about the spine, just sight down the blank and see if the tip top veers off to one side or the other. If so, your guides aren’t on the straightest axis.
Completely stripping down a rod is not a trivial pursuit, but it’s not that hard to do, and it is a great learning experience. It can certainly improve the rod’s performance and enhance cosmetics. Just take your time and be careful.
Start by cutting off the guides. I use a utility knife and cut the threads on top of the guide foot. This prevents you from cutting the blank. A little heat from a hair dryer will make the epoxy more pliable and the thread wraps will be easier to peel off and unwind. If you don’t want to use either the handle or reel seat you can just carefully cut them off and replace them with more modern components. If the rod is painted, it is difficult to remove the guides without chipping the paint. So you may want to remove all the paint/finish. This is done by scraping the the paint with a utility knife or single edge razor blade held perpendicular to the blank. The paint will come off in little curlycues without harming the blank. You can also scrape off the old epoxy used in the handle and reel seat area. Once you have removed the old finish, wet sand with 500 to 1000 wet dry sand paper. Wet sanding will remove all traces of the finish, and again doesn’t harm the blank. Wet sanding basically polishes the blanks. After cleaning the blank you can use it as is, or clear coat or paint the blank. I like to clear coat using Permagloss, which is quickly wiped on using a cosmetic sponge, cheese cloth, or a coffee filter as an applicator, they all work. I pour a little Permagloss into a small container and saturate the applicator with it. Using nitrile gloves I encircle the blank with the applicator and quickly pull it down the blank from tip to butt while firmly holding the applicator. This will squeegee the finish on, giving a very thin coat. Only takes a few seconds, and when finished just stand the blank against the wall. If you wish, you can recoat within an hour or two. Permagloss gives a very thin and durable finish, which will make the blank look brand new. I will let the coated blank set over night before building on it.
Norm

Excellent advice from Norman Miller, as usual. Nice work, Norman.

i stripped paint off a couple painted blanks with citristrip. wet sanded with 800. never tried the razor blade scrape technique. Norm gives great tutorial right there.

Norm has excellent advice.

In addition, a couple of things.
I simply use a heat gun to soften the epoxy and rod finish. Be very very very careful with the use of heat - particularly up near and at the tip end of the rod where the blank is small or even tiny. Too much heat will effectively destroy the rod.

Having said that, I use single edge razor blades for everything.

As Norm suggested, heat the finish and cut through the thread on the top side of the guide foot to avoid slicing into the blank. With the thread cut and the finish softened by the heat the coated thread and guide peel right off the rod. With all of the guides and tip top gone from the rod, just start at the butt and move to the tip, warming the finish and holding the razor blade at right angles or 90 degrees to the blank and scrape off any remaining thread wraps and thread wrap coatings along with all of the finish on the blank.
Once all of the finish is off the rod, use wet and dry sand paper - used wet - to polish the bare blank. Start at 320 and go down to 600 grit for the final polish. Do a final wipe down with alcohol and you are ready to start rebuilding the rod.
No need for any sort of finish on the blank since the resin / epoxy used to construct the blank works well for a rod finish. Over the years there have been many manufacturers who have sold rods with no finish. Take for example the G Loomis IMX rods. Never a drop of finish has ever been placed on these rod blanks.

When doing this prep work never ever use a cutting blade, knife or razor blade that are held at a log angle to the rod blank. If you do, it is inevitable that you you will catch a fiber from the rod blank and effectively rip a side off the blank and ruin the blank. Hence, the reason to always hold the scraping blade perpendicular to the blank to avoid catching a fiber end that could disassemble the blank.

Carry on and enjoy the rod.

Ditto on not worrying about the spine on the rod. Just leave the grips and reel seat in place and rebuild the rod and you will be good to go.

The spine business is a whole lot of ado about an issue that will never have a huge effect on the performance of a fishing rod. If you want to build on the spine of a rod - go for it. If you want to build on the straightest axis of a rod blank - go for it. If you want to grab a blank and build on the side of the blank that is on top - go for it;.

Note:
Obviously, if you happen to have a blank with a 6 inch bend in the blank, chop it up into little pieces and use the straight pieces as stirring sticks or for reinforcing a shaky fence post.

I'm afraid I am in the minority here, but I believe the spine can have a significant effect on casting accuracy for spinning and casting rods. I have experimented with this and found it to be true. If the spine is at 90 degrees to the guides, the cast will be pushed to the side opposite of the spine. The effect is mnost pronounced in one-piece blanks. I ignore the spine on blanks of 3 or more pieces as each section will have its own spine and they rarely line up on the straightest axis. I also do not consider the spine for fly rods where the casting stroke determines the accurracy or saltwater (inshore) rods where casting is less of an issue.

I do agree with some of the comments, to a degree. Especially regarding the current manufacturing processes limiting the effect of the spine. While it will still be there, it may be minimal, particularly where higher-end blanks are engineered in-house and built to exacting specifications. The cause of the spine is the natural effect of the process of wrapping the resin-infused cloth onto the blank and rolling under extreme pressure - a straight piece of cloth will naturally circumnavigate a tapered mandril with more circuits at the tip-end. The side with the most layers of the cloth is the side that will be the stiffest, hence the "spine". If the manufacturer has calculated the cuts of cloth to have the cloth line up to the mandril axis after rolling, the spine will be the most pronounced.

The curves and bends in a blank are caused by not accurately "tacking" the cloth along the mandril's axis. In a high-volume production environment, this can be a more significant issue, as it takes time to perfectly line up the cloth and tack to the mandril. Saving a few seconds per blank adds up significantly when hundreds, or even thousands, of blanks are produced. Companies like Stryker Rods and Berkheimer that roll and process their blanks in-house instead of off-shoring can have a more direct effect on quality control and hence produce straighter blanks. This is not an infallible law, nor am I denigrating off-shore blanks, it is merely the logical extension of the foregoing comments. I have personally made four blanks myself, and accurately tacking the cloth to the mandril is a daunting task - my own blanks were 2 straight, 1 with a very slight curve in the last 10", and 1 with a more pronounced (but still acceptable) curve in the last 12" I take my hat off to those that can tack hundreds of blanks a day and still get it right!!

Rich