Hey guys, I'm new here. I decided to get into building my own own line of catfishing rods for myself. But to start off, I have a couple of 14 year old ugly cats I would like to cut the handle and reel seat off and replace with better components, as well as the eyes. How much work would this be and is it even worth it?

Shakespeare blanks haven't been available for many years, if you want a custom rod made with one of those blanks, what are your other option? You can build a new blank from scratch faster, but where are you going to find one?

I have them, I would just cut off whatever is on there

If the rods mean something to you and you want to use them, do it. Since you are taking the guides off it should be pretty easy. If you put the new ones back in the same location the finish on the new rod will be fine, too. You might try some steam to remove the grips and seat, but most likely you'll have to cut them off, which should not be that difficult. Just be careful to not cut into the blank. Clean up the blank where the grips and seat used to be, and install new. Buy a rodbuiilding book or use on-line tutorials for advice, do internet video searches to find them. Look at Flexcoat.com and Mudhole.com, BasonEnterprises.com.

Time well spent to put some real experience under your belt.

I’m in the same boat kind of. I have an ugly stick tiger medium light 8’ and I like the rod but I hate the components. The reel seat comes loose when I start fighting a fish, the guides don’t feel so smooth and the foregrip has some play in it. I can’t find any other medium light, non broom stick blanks out there. I am fine with just fibreglass too.

If you like the blank strip it down and build with your preferences . It is amazing what TLC will do to an old rod.

Stripping down an old rod is quite a learning experience and well worth the time. If you rebuild it you will have a better rod than the original, plus you will learn a lot. One of the best ways to get into rod building.
Norm

Thank you guys much! Yea the rods have sentimental value to me as they were what I used in my early 20s very frequently, but I dislike the components and would rather mess those up than a high dollar rod. David I'm interested in that medium light rod blank as well as the tiger medium. I've never handled them but I know the medium heavy Tiger is too much for anything under 100 pounds.