So I've got two 7' casting rods that are basically unfishable for reasons I'd rather not get into. That being said, I really love the blanks and think I could possibly save them from an eternity in the corner of abandoned rods by doing some drastic experimental surgery. They are roughly MH+, and I want to cut the bottom 12-18" off and redo the guides and handles. I'm aware that this will change the properties of the rod, but I don't really care what it'll be good for as long as it's more than the nothing I've got right now.

 

Is this worth a shot? What might I expect?

IMO its worth a shot. An unused rod of 84" is no more/less useless than an unused rod of 64". It's hard to speculate on what to expect.....but I am curious. Best of luck.

You may get away with 12 inches, 18 may be expecting to much. You'll lose power and have a slower action.

Might make a good 6’ pistol grip spinnerbait rod. 

There’ll be no backbone left. What’s your reasoning for cutting it down?

1 hour ago, Delaware Valley Tackle said:

There’ll be no backbone left. What’s your reasoning for cutting it down?

Well, they were modified by someone else which totally ruined them. Cutting off the bottom will remove most of the problem areas.

 

If there's no backbone left, then at least I'll have a new bluegill rod. Better than what I have now.

Never know til you try.  I built a 6-10" mxf for a guy and it blew up on the first outing.  I replaced it, but I had this brand new, pristine grip and seat in didn't want to waste.  I cut the rod off about 6" in front of the seat and wouldn't you know it, it fit perfectly in the butt of the same blank.  I glued it up and it's the fastest XF rod I've ever felt.  It's 8' long now.  I haven't wrapped it, but I'm betting it's gonna be a great deep water DS rod.

2 hours ago, S Hovanec said:

Never know til you try.  I built a 6-10" mxf for a guy and it blew up on the first outing.  I replaced it, but I had this brand new, pristine grip and seat in didn't want to waste.  I cut the rod off about 6" in front of the seat and wouldn't you know it, it fit perfectly in the butt of the same blank.  I glued it up and it's the fastest XF rod I've ever felt.  It's 8' long now.  I haven't wrapped it, but I'm betting it's gonna be a great deep water DS rod.

That's awesome! Hopefully I get a cool niche rod out of this too. Worst case scenario is I'm out a couple bucks worth of parts and I had a fun winter project.

If you like rods as they were before getting damaged you can cut off to get a clean end then extend back to the original length.  This is  process that is quite common with builders to make, for example, an 8 foot rod with similar characteristics to a 7 which is about right but  not long enough.  In this case, the action and power will be unaffected by a good extension job.  I expect there are searches showing it,  but a good builder can do it for you.  Of course new seats and grips would be needed.  If done right the guides need not be disturbed, work can be done all from the rear.

5 hours ago, MickD said:

If you like rods as they were before getting damaged you can cut off to get a clean end then extend back to the original length.  This is  process that is quite common with builders to make, for example, an 8 foot rod with similar characteristics to a 7 which is about right but  not long enough.  In this case, the action and power will be unaffected by a good extension job.  I expect there are searches showing it,  but a good builder can do it for you.  Of course new seats and grips would be needed.  If done right the guides need not be disturbed, work can be done all from the rear.

Oh... Didn't know that was an option! I'll research that. Unfortunately, the guides have to be redone as well because they are trashed. I'm basically going to have to strip these bare and rebuild everything. Never done it before, so if I fail hard, then I'm not losing much and at least gaining experience!

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