Batson

Honestly just taking off the guides off an old rod is a great way to learn to wrap... which is what probably most people first struggle with at the beginning along with a nice smooth finish coat. Plus you learn the skill of replacing broken guides.

As Mick mentioned, 14lb won't be a problem. Truth is that most rod companies put a lower line rating because we know anglers will always push over the limit.

You start with figuring out the blank, to help pick the blank know these answers: What are you fishing for? Lure weight? Casting or Spinning? Length? Reel is nice to know as well, especially for heavy saltwater. From there the Rod Builder can make recommendations if you don't already know which brand you'd like. A good builder will start there, then they’ll ask questions like: Budget? What type of grip do you like? (Full or split, cork, eva, carbon fiber or something else) Also good to know palm to the meat of the forearm (where you like the butt to hit). If you have a rod that you currently like how it fits you grip wise then you can measure from the reel seat to the butt. Color Scheme? (for the thread work) How detailed or minimal do you want the thread work? Basic or Fancy. From there they’ll make recommendations on the reel seat and guides. If you already know what you like great but if you don’t, don’t worry that’s their job to help guide you along the journey of getting a custom rod built.

Many tackle shops have a tip top repair kit that will have tip top glue in there as well. Super easy to put on just need to line it up with the guides.

Looks great!

Personally, as Andy007 also noted, if you're going to build then build something that you're going to want to continue to fish - doesn't have to be super expensive to be better than off the shelf rods. If you're just wanting to practice wrapping guides, then take an old rod that you already have cut off the guides (that's a learning experience as well for repair) and wrap on new guides, cut them off and wrap again. Wrapping guides and finish coats are where most people struggle with when learning, so focus on that. I also suggest Get Bit Outdoors to order from - honestly there's lots of great dealers out there.

Get Bit Outdoors has lots of great kits as well. Though most rod building dealers will put something together for you as well for similar pricing. All you need is a hand wrapper (you can make one out out of a box if you want to keep it super cheap), rod bond (for grips) and finish coat for guides, plus some thread which you can run under a phone book for "tension", then brushes and a burnishing tool (Popsicle sticks work). Though I would recommend getting a dryer as it would be annoying to turn the rod with finish coat every 10 or so minutes for a couple hours. Rather than building a cheap rod, I often say practice on an old factory rod or old broken rod. Strip off the guides and practice and rewrap. Wrapping and guide placement is the biggest learning curve to learn.

There’s no rule, just suggestions. That’s where we start out the blueprint builds and adjust from there. Obviously a smaller guide will work just fine as well.

This is only a suggestion of guide size and placement, definitely static test and adjust accordingly. Guide Placement (In inches from the tip top) XBLFTLG05 3.3125" XBLFTLG05 6.750" XBLFTLG05 10.1875" XBLFTLG05 13.75" XBLFTLG05 17.375" XBLFTLG05 21.25" XBLFTLG05 25.3125" XBLFTLG05 29.375" XBLFTLG05 33.675" XBLFTLG07 38" XBLFTLG12 43.675" XYTLG20 49.5"

There's a Judge Crankbait series and a separate Live Bait series - definitely different from one another. If they don't have the CB (Crankbait) series listed, just give them a call and anyone of our dealers will special order it for you.

There was a slight redesign for the 7’10” Judge Crankbait, but still includes the RX7 and S-Glass (though there’s always some other composites mixed in) plus the Double Helix Carbon Wrap in the lower section. It never really came out last year, for some reason it was a bit tougher to manufacture at this length so there was a slight redesign which actually made improvements with a bit slimmer butt and lighter overall. The Judge 7’10” Crankbaits are fully in stock. The Telescopic blanks, at the beginning of the video, are in the REVELATION lineup and are graphite.

Here at Batson Enterprises, we’ve always been proud supports for causes related to the military and we couldn’t have been happier the provide blanks and components to these builders when asked. Thanks for the builds, they look great!

MVT and TexTouch don’t come with a hood because there’s more than one option for hoods, allows you to customize it without being forced to buy the hood don't want. Though we do have some TexTouch seats on build2fish.com, that are cut short which come with a black hood (it was a special order item that we have leftover stock on). Only in size 11 though but are half off MSRP. The two seats are the same, the only difference is MVT is made with Toray which drives up the cost but lightens the seat and increases the sensitivity. Honestly there hasn’t been enough demand on our end for blank exposed spin seat – our two different ALPS and ForeCast split seats seem to fill requests that we get. Doing the exposed seats is actually pretty expensive, there has to be a separate mold made for each different size in order to have an exposed seat, so we just need to see demand rise to the point to offset those costs. You can pop out the insert on the RAPIDS, but only the 2 sizes so not likely to work for your needs too often.

Great work. Love those checkered grips.

NFC is not going out of business and the blanks aren’t going to be going to be on closeout. They had a simple bankruptcy restructure (a lot of businesses do it), they're reformed and never stopped making blanks and doing business.

This is something that’s always been a bit of a pain, so we came out with a ream-through design for Cork and EVA this year. Just ream it like a normal grip and glue the cap onto the butt. http://alpsforecast.com/products/fighting-butts-1/fighting-butt-super-grade-corkevahdcc/ http://alpsforecast.com/products/fighting-butts-1/fighting-butt-super-grade-corkevahdcc-2/ http://alpsforecast.com/products/fighting-butts-1/fighting-butt-evahdcc/

We don’t publish an MSRP price, letting dealers choose their own pricing. As said, Utmost is at our the suggested pricing and not above.

Utmost is just listing the suggested retail price. So they're not upping the price at all, Getbit is just being openly aggressive in their pricing. Both companies are well known for great customer service. We’ve always felt that the Immortals were great blanks and one of the best buys. Though one of our sales reps went through the numbers and found a way for us to lower the price… as we want to get these awesome blanks into more hands. The new pricing is very competitive with other companies and we feel these are now the best buy for a truly high performance blank.

They’re fairly standard, shouldn’t be any problems with other reels. Heavy saltwater reels are a little less standard in sizing and can cause problems.

Here's a few options using winding checks, both aluminum and rubber. As well as using a larger hood, though there's still a ramp or check there.

No worries a lot of people thought that at the time. It allows them to concentrate on making blanks and not having to deal with the distribution side of things.

Batson Enterprises did not buy out NFC, we’re simply a distributor of their rod blanks.

Take a look at the RainShadow RX6 Fly Blanks, they are Mod-Fast and fit in your budget. They are more than tried and tested. 4-Piece: http://www.rainshadowrodblanks.com/product-line/rx6-2-fly-4-piece/ 2-Piece: http://www.rainshadowrodblanks.com/product-line/rx6-2-fly-2-piece/ The REVELATION lineup is also great, budget friendly but a higher performance than the RX6 but they are all Fast action.

If you want to go with the Popping blank then we’d recommend our RainShadow REVELATION line of popping blanks (formally the RX7) – the action is Mod-Fast. Go with the MH or Heavy power.