Need Advice On Rod Blanks: Are They The Same Until Guides Are Added?

[Walleye Guy]

Update: I installed my Ambassadeur 7000 on the 8' rod-to-be-converted and it fits great in the reel seat.

I laid the 8' rod next to the 10' rod on the hood of my car and took a picture (#7826) so you can see that they are big brother and little brother.  I had to put my reel case in there to keep it from rolling off.

One thing I just learned by doing this yesterday (and you can see it if you zoom into the #7827 picture) is that the 8' spinning rod seat is opposite of the 10' casting rod: on the 8' spinning the rear ring is fixed and the front ring tightens into the reel foot whereas on the 10' casting rod the front seat is fixed and the rear ring tightens into the reel foot.  In this same picture you can see how nicely the 10' rod's reel seat polished up and that I haven't done anything yet to the 8' rod's reel seat.

Picture #7828 shows both halves of the 8' spinning rod so you can see the damaged guides.  The tip-top, not pictured, is also broken.

Sensei: I don't think these rods were used much so, fingers crossed, hopefully they won't have much fading from UV rays in case some of the guides need to shift.  You are right, this was a casting/surf rod but now it'll be a trolling rod so I need to do some testing of the guide locations to be sure the line will not be rubbing.  However, I could see it being used occasionally as a casting rod for muskie on Lake St. Clair.

Thank-you for the lesson on stripping guides.

[JasonGotaProblem]

My good sir you know how to ask fun questions. I'm grabbing the popcorn.

My short answer is that down-locking is more comfortable, at least to me, casting a conventional because my hand is sitting on the lower grip not on seat threads. Up-locking sees the reel being pulled against a fixed object, which many feel is a worthwhile tradeoff.

BTW Steve and Sheridan have forgotten more about this topic than I can hope to learn. So if anything I say contradicts them, ignore me.

[Walleye Guy]

I sensed I was in the presence of a lot of rod building wisdom so I went for it.   

My good sir you know how to ask fun questions. I'm grabbing the popcorn.

My short answer is that down-locking is more comfortable, at least to me, casting a conventional because my hand is sitting on the lower grip not on seat threads. Up-locking sees the reel being pulled against a fixed object, which many feel is a worthwhile tradeoff.

BTW Steve and Sheridan have forgotten more about this topic than I can hope to learn. So if anything I say contradicts them, ignore me.

[oc1]

I hold the rod in my right hand to cast and left hand to retrieve so the locking threads are always going to be an annoyance at some point.  The up-locking versus down-locking argument reminds me why I hate reel seats and don't use them anymore.

The quirky offset reel seats with trigger are probably the most comfortable overall, but then you have an extra ferrule to contend with and loose the security of the blank extend all the way through to the butt cap..

[Walleye Guy]

For a casting rod, I cast with my left and crank with my right; for a spinning rod, I cast with my right and crank with my left.  So, I think the exposed threads...if they are uncomfortable...would be that way whether the rod is a casting or spinning rod.

I'm 100% new to the art of rod building, but if the threads are an annoyance to my grip then I'll just have to live with it since I don't plan on removing the reel seat.

[jurelometer]

Model 2148 only has four guides. The  rule of thumb guide count for a conventional rod is one for each foot of length plus one.  In this case, the reel seat is much farther from the butt than typical (probably because it is a surf rod), so you probably don't need all nine, but it seems unlikely to me that four guides will be enough for trolling or casting lures as a conventional.  The extra long butt/handle also makes it less suited for trolling and general purpose lure casting, and that pointy butt cap... 

You are not just turning a spinner into a conventional, you are also turning a surf rod into a general purpose trolling/lure casting rod.

You have an interesting problem here.  To redo the rod to set it up "correctly" for your use means stripping it down and salvaging just the blank, which might not be worth the effort. Plus it sounds like the goal is preserve the original rod aesthetics as much as possible.  I guess as long as the goal is just to get good enough, not necessarily ideal performance, you have a shot. I would at least figure out how to squeeze in a few more guides.  Let us know how it turns out!

-J

[Walleye Guy]

Model 2148 only has four guides. The  rule of thumb guide count for a conventional rod is one for each foot of length plus one.  In this case, the reel seat is much farther from the butt than typical (probably because it is a surf rod), so you probably don't need all nine, but it seems unlikely to me that four guides will be enough for trolling or casting lures as a conventional.  The extra long butt/handle also makes it less suited for trolling and general purpose lure casting, and that pointy butt cap... 

You are not just turning a spinner into a conventional, you are also turning a surf rod into a general purpose trolling/lure casting rod.

You have an interesting problem here.  To redo the rod to set it up "correctly" for your use means stripping it down and salvaging just the blank, which might not be worth the effort. Plus it sounds like the goal is preserve the original rod aesthetics as much as possible.  I guess as long as the goal is just to get good enough, not necessarily ideal performance, you have a shot. I would at least figure out how to squeeze in a few more guides.  Let us know how it turns out!

-J

I'm learning as I go and I also learned...since I bought these project rods and started fixing them up...the art of rod making is very fascinating to me.  And now I know that yes, you are correct that I'm not only converting a spinning rod to a casting rod I'm also converting a general purpose rod into a trolling rod.  I do want to keep the aesthetics at the top of the list because I want this 8' rod to match the 10' rod as much as possible.  I'm hoping that the overall finish isn't too faded in case guides need to be moved but I suppose we won't know that until the original guides are removed.

The Garcia literature at the beginning of this post says the original guides are chrome plated stainless.  How do I know what line types are safe?  My coworker uses some copper line when he goes for salmon.  So far I've been using a heavy monofilament line but would the guides be damaged if I ever bought a larger reel and spooled it with copper?

Thank-you all again for the responses thus far.

I will definitely report back when it's all finished.

ps: I just re-read the original pdf and it says "The reel seats are reversed on conventional models so that there's always cork - not metal - under your hands."