Has anyone here built a Telescopic Rod using a TI Tele XH blank and if so what are your opinions about them. looking to build a 9.5-10' Musky rod

I built two musky rods with these blanks a few years ago, one for myself and another for my dad. Both were the TI Pro 9'6" XH telescopic. Was actually just looking for a MH version for blades but they are out of stock for the Pro version.

Overall I would recommend them. They are light weight, durable, and have a nice fit and finish to them.

As a novice builder at the time, with only a few bass rods under my belt, something I found tricky was reaming the grips to fit the larger diameter of the butt of the blank. The rear chunk of the blank, the 30" (not sure exactly there) or so where the rest telescopes into, is a consistent 3/4" or so, if I remember correctly. I was also trying to build them with an 18" full cork grip. This made reaming tricky and impossible with a traditional tapered reamer, plus all the reamers I had were too small. Knowing what I know now, this wouldn't be an issue with the correct reverse spade bit, or better yet, I would've built my own grip and reamed each cork ring to the desired size as I went. Then glued and shaped on a dowel or something. Does that make sense? Just something to be aware of.

I built mine with Fuji aclonite guides: double foot 12, double 8 + 8 x single foot 6's. If I did it over again I'd go down to 5's or 4's for the runners. Fuji TDPSM reel seat, I think size 20. I would also really recommend CRB's XL dropshot hook keeper. I was nervous about it securing heavy lures and not bending but it's a beast and is super fast to use.

The result though was a relatively light, well balanced and sensitive rod that handles the majority of musky baits. Has a nice moderate action, which I prefer. I could throw everything in the box with it expect for rubber exceeding 8-10 oz or so. If you're going to throw big rubber and pounders I would go XXH, but it would handle it for the occasional heavy lift.

Happy to answer any other questions you have on this blank/build.

Thanks for the input Joe. I'll reach out when I get things going on the builds.

Unless they have changed from a few years ago, I would be cautious with them. I built several of the 10’6” H and XH that all ended up breaking about 14 to 18 inches down the blank. Perhaps it was a batch of bad blanks? It seemed ironic that they would all break in generally the same area of the blank. Most of the breakage was during a normal cast with not oversized musky baits. I know of another builder that experienced the same issue of breakage in the same area of the blank. Hopefully, the newer blanks are less prone to breaking…