On 5/17/2021 at 8:06 PM, J Francho said:

How much I cut off wouldn't matter one bit, it's never touched while fishing. It only changes the balance. There would be no change in power or action from my perspective, if you cut off any amount behind the reel seat.

I agree.   I understand your point.  But move the seat to where it belongs ergonomically, and the power and action are affected.  And if you use two hands to cast, they will be affected even without the seat moving.  The amount they are changed will of course depend on how much is cut.  A little cut and one might not sense any change.

3 hours ago, MickD said:

This is absolutely untrue.  But go ahead and do it to find out for sure.

I already have from 2 X-Ray Blanks and haven't noticed any difference. Maybe because they were X-rays, or maybe because they were a Mag Heavy and a Heavy. I asked many different people and read many different sites and they mostly all said it wouldn't affect anything if I did it. I doubt I would go cutting anything from my Phenix blank though.

 

Either way, I'm happy I cut them, the 7'10" wouldn't fit inside my truck if I didn't and I already had a MB-736, so I wanted to make the SJ-736 into a 7 footer, since they are very similar.

Good that it's working for you.  The changes must be subtle enough that you are not noticing them.  But they did change.  Notice the data in my earlier post where I simulated cutting about 4 inches off the tip.  If I were to do that again simulating the cut from the butt the power would change less than cutting from the tip, and the action would slow a little also.  I've lost a couple inches off the tips of a couple blanks and never liked them after that.  Different strokes for different folks.  But the fact is simple:  When you change a blank's dimensions its physical characteristics (weight, balance, action and power) change.