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Scott and Mike have given you the way to modify the front of the seat area. I have trimmed a reel seat on a factory rod to get rid of exposed threads, and it is a ticklish procedure. Not difficult, but not much room for error. Changing the balance point is a different procedure. You would need to drill out the butt grip, epoxy in enough weight to achieve your desired balance point, and then plug the butt grip. I haven't seen an XX rod in person. What does the butt end of the have? Show us a pic looking at the end of the rod.

You know Batson will not disclose that info. And whoever is making them will not either. You also know how this crazy interweb thing works. Somebody will say I bet they're being made by NFC. And by the time goes from two more eyes to typing finger, or ears to mouth, it will be " common knowledge" that these are NFC blanks. In this realm there is a fine line between speculation and outright BS. The two I bought have a Rainshadow sticker, a part number sticker and a made in the USA sticker on the butt end. Nothing that indicates a manufacturer. The only thing I know for sure is, these will not be last two I buy. They are top shelf.

here's the best I could do Jeff. I have left over F guides and left over Alconites, but, as luck would have it, none the same size. so you got two size 5 guides wrapped on different rods. The top is an Alps F, titanium frame, Zirconia ring, size 5. The boorm is a Fuji BLAG alconite, size 5. Hard to see the height difference, but it is there. Sorry for the dust on the wraps. Didn't realize it was there until I looked at the pic full size

Use a sharp exacto knife to cut down through the threar, on the foot of the hook keeper. DO NOT try to cut thread on the blank, only on the foot. Warm it up and peel the thread and epoxy off. Try to leave a few thread at the start of the foot uncut. You can work a free end loose, nd use that to unwind the thread from under the epoxy, moving towards the Tatula decal. Your real problem is going to be the exposed edge of said decal. Hard telling what it's going to look like when you get the wrap and it's epoxy removed. There could very well be an ugly transition from the epoxied Tatula decal and the matte finished area where the D is. If so, you can do a short thread wrap, and epoxy the whole area.

Yes, and that's a stupid way to do it. Makes it very difficult to measure one accurately. Some of the guide manufacturers post dimensions on their websites. You can try to find yours and match a dimension you are able to easily measure.

Those look interesting. Let us know how well they work.

You are correct. Discussing illegal activities? Not in my town!

Let me see what I have. I know I have some Alconite BLAGs. I think I bought just enough Alps guides for this rod. I know I'll be buying more of them. I'll try to remember to send you some pics when I stock up. The main difference, size wise is in height. The Alps guides put the line further from the blank than BLAGs.

true dat

I'm semi retired as of December 2015. I work two day a week instead of six. My plan was to fish any day I wanted to, weather permitting. You know what they say about plans. This was supposed to be a great fishing year for me. Well, 2016 is going to go down as the absolute worst year of fishing, in terms of time spent on the water. Weather, work, honey-do's, family, vacations, etc; you name it; it got in the way. I've written off 2016 as a total loss as far as fishing goes. Next year will be better, or else.

And there you have the root of the problem.

looking at this, they don't seem to. and their suggested parts lists do not include any type of insert. I plan to order one soon. I'll find out then for sure. http://getrodblanks.com/product/elliott-e-sj610ml-xf/

This is one of the new unfinished Eternity blanks from Batson. Me likey so far. Very straight and blemish free. Feels very very crisp and responsive in hand with the guides all wrapped on. All the thread is done, cp'ed, and the first, seal coat of epoxy is applied. I used Alps F series titanium framed guides for this build. Kent will be using braid on this rod so it's a size 6 stripper, and size 5 for the rest, simple spiral, and Fuji BMNAT size 5 tip.I like these guides. They are a little bit taller than comparable Fuji guides. They also took almost no prep before wrapping; about 4 seconds each on the WorkSharp, with a 1000 grit belt. I'll be using these again, for sure. All the thread is Fuji #11 brown and Prowrap teak color. This is the second of three rods for Kent. The first had the brown/teak combo for the thread work, and Kent said attsa nice, do it again.

Acrylic trim piece in front of reel seat, with thread work, CP, but no epoxy yet. This is where Kent's name will go when the decals I ordered get here. I forgot to order decals before I went on vacation, so I will be waiting for them.

I've decided I like these materials too. My next shop investment is gonna have to be some carbide tipped tools. The HSS tools I have now are just not good enough for this stuff. The acrylic spacer with decal and trim thread. No epoxy yet, but CP has been applied to the thread. other side of the spacer

Hey Scott, have you used one of these? I'm about to pull the trigger on one.

Building 7'6" worm/jig rod for brother Kent. This is my first build on one of the new Rainshadow Eternity blanks. Also my first attempt at acrylic turning. Kent wants a 7'6" rod to be tip light. There are two ways to do that. One is to make a stupid long handle. That is out of the question. That leaves making a heavier handle; thus the use of acrylic parts. i basically taped cork rinsg and acrylic pieces onto the blank with the reel seat taped on, and a reel mounted, until I got what was required. Took a while. Here's what we have so far. The handle assembly, glued up and clamped on the blank.

A lot longer than they can live in one without water.

I'll talk to anybody who is polite about it. I tell the knuckleheads that I limited out throwing dough balls. Never had anybody go through my stuff. Not sure how I would react to that, but I would not be polite.

I normally use the kind choporoz posted. If it's a split grip, I put it in the split, otherwise right in front of the seat, on the bottom. I like the EZ keeper, and have those on factory rods that came without a keeper. Lots of good ideas here. The Kigan looks like a perfect dropshot keeper. BBF's idea is brilliant. I have some single foot Recoil fly guides for an upcoming build. I'm gonna "borrow" one of those to wrap on one of my existing rods to try out.

This might be close, http://getrodblanks.com/product/xss-series-hero-hi-grade-reel-seat/

http://www.knifecenter.com/ If you can't find one here, they don't make one.

I will be flying into Miami, Saturday afternoon, to get on a cruise ship. We will see what happens.

Well, that would be a first.

Joe, unless you plan to throw a 10XD, or something similar, a MH will do what you want. The Rainshadow Revelation blanks are really nice for the price. You will like one.