FD.

Rainshadow Rx8 XMB843

You could just use a Manley Adjust a Butt to extent the handle http://www.mudhole.com/Rod-Building/Grips-Handles/Manley-Rods-Adjust-A-Butt

FDX Custom Rods

I use a double foot stripper guide and sometimes a transition guide as well. Mostly so I can do this.

3 reasons really. I bought the insert for a rod I built in Feb but did not like the way it looked on that rod, so I had one. I don't like long handles that typically come on big flipping sticks and with my trigger set at 11" from the butt, I needed a little weight behind the reel seat to balance the 7-11 beast of a rod. I think it looks way cool.

I have never fished a Dobyns but here is what I see. The D is 3 inches longer and has an extra fast action. I only build topwater or jerk bait rods with an extra fast action. I think that puts too much stress on the tip during the hook sets on a frog rod. And without comparing the blanks side by side, I would say, just based on the list price on the Dobyins with Kigan Sic guides, the Rainshadow blank would be far superior to the blank Dobyns started with.

Any 843 blank will work. That's normally a 7 ft MH Fast tip. It is a good multipurpose rod. My personal hollow body frog rod is built on a Rainshadow Rx8 XMB843.

These guys http://mmrods.com/ are in San Diego and should be able to get your NFC blanks.

The motors are variable speed with a foot control like a sewing machine. I don't turn the rod any faster on most wraps. It just gives you an extra hand. I do crank up the speed on underwraps and butt wraps.

To expound a little. Mudhole. Their website is very user friendly and they probably have a better selection than most other places mentioned. They also have great customer service, most of the time. All that being said, they do not always have the best pricing and the shipping on blanks can be high as well. I use them for probably 75% on my non blank purchases and maybe 25% of my blanks. Batson. I buy a lot of Forcast products from BridgeMasters. Mostly because they are local and carry a pretty good selection of handle components. I buy a lot of RX6 blanks from them. The RX6 blanks are great quality blanks at a low price. I build a lot of rods on these for a local shop that carries my rods. Alps makes some really trick stuff, but most of it is out of my price range. Rod Geeks. By far the overall best value in blank purchases. You can get a custom painted high mod blank for under $125 plus $18 shipping per order. Also they give you 10% off for 5 or more blanks at a time and 15% for 10 or more.

It's not that you can only wrap one direction, it's the orientation of the power wrapper. If you are hand wrapping it does not matter. My wrapping motor is not reversible, so with the setup of my thread carriage and the direction my motor turns, I have to have the butt on my left to get the thread to come over the top of the blank from my thread carriage.

i build my handles on my rod stand with the butt to the right. My wrapper is set up with the butt on the left, tip on the right. Kinda odd, but so am I.

When did that start? I have been using Get Bit or Bridgemasters for Batson products.

Here's your Jolly Rancher. 8 layers of ProKote high build.

Mudhole, Get Bit, Rod Geeks, Bridgemasters, Custom Fly Grips, Hydra Fishing

This is a mean, green, flippin machine. RG C4711HMF - 7' 11" Heavy Moderate Fast in Light Green Metallic paint Black EVA rear and fighting butt Black/Silver 4" Aluminum split grip spacer insert Black/Silver Aluminum locking nut Fuji ACS exposed trigger seat Fuji Concept SiC titanium frame guides and tip Handle Mock up

I wrapped for years with a hand wrapper and all my gear in a 10 gal plastic tote. I would have to use the dinner table to have enough flat space to work a rod.

Awesome! Warning: the Blank Monkey is worse than the Bait Monkey..

X3

One of my personal favorite rods is built on an RX-6 blank that I paid $30 for.

Handle Mock up