I have my blanks, guides, cork all ordered and have watched the mudhole and Flexcoat videos. My question is how do you determine reel seat size? Fuji makes like 50 exposed blank reel seats so I have no idea what to order :-/. Do you measure the blank where the reel seat will be? Fuji lists all these diameters so it is confusing.

Allen

Allen,

Decide on the blank you will build on and where the reel seat will be positioned on the rod. Measure with a caliper the width (diameter) of the blank in mm at the widest point (back of the seat where it will meet the grip). I usually get the next smaller size (if it measures 16.5mm I get a 16.0) so I can ream it out a little and make it fit perfectly. I hope this makes sense and helps you out.

Ronnie

Measure the front of the seat location and convert the decimal to MM.  1" = 25.4mm or you can google a convertion calculator: http://www.convertunits.com/from/inches/to/mm  (the back of the seat will be bigger and on occasion that difference will be enough to leave the front of the seat loose.  I always measure to the front of the seat and then go one size smaller.  You want to fit the taper as well as the size for optimum fit and feel.

(actually I stock all the sizes so I use the closest one that must be reamed to fit, but you get the point.)

If you are unsure of you measuring, you can use a scrap of wood and drill it out until you get almost perfect fit and use the drill bit diameter to determine the measurement.

I suppose you allready know that you cannot mount that reel seat until you determine where the spine is on the rod. You will ruin a good blank if not. PM me if you are not sure and I will let you know how to do it. No rod is alike.

From rodbuilding.org....

Spine Or "Effective Spine"-- is an effect created by several manufacturing anomalies. The result is that the rod blank will favor bending along a particular axis when load is applied.

IMPO it is important to spine the blank, but many a lot more experienced then I am are now saying it isn't as important as once thought.

Tight Wraps All!!!  

Mudhole has some great online videos that show how to find the spine, wrap guides, etc. it just doesn't show how to pick parts. I guess I need to get a set of metric calipers.

Allen