ABU GARCIA "FANTASISTA" reborn

One thing that I seldom do is parts salvaging ... especially for reel seat. It is just too time consuming. But I had this reel seat for quite some time and it took me 4 man hours to remove the blank from the reel seat.

The parts that manage to be salvaged are the reel seat, the guides and butt cap.

Test fitting the components

Putting all the components together.

Done with the reel seat and rod decal.

Guide wrapping to match the reel seat color.

After epoxy

Rear view from the butt cap

Guides line up

View from reel seat 

Medium power "slow pitch" Jigger

Another jigging rod project which was shelved a couple of months back as it was a " just for fun" project and I thought of completing it just to clear my work bench.

Using  FUJI PTS-MPK reel seat , some aluminum trims and ALPS titanium guides. 

Setting up and test fitting the reel seat and components.

Yet another spiral guide placement for this jigging rod pending epoxy.
Personally I find that spiral guide placement are rather good for medium to heavy jigging setup which uses over head reels.  You will have more control over the rod during heavy loading and pumping.

Hand signed plus custom decal 

Aligning and centralizing guide placement for incoming line to reel before epoxy

Decal

After epoxy completion.

Complete handle

CRB 12-25 Heavy Cover

Here's another heavy cover rod that I managed to complete recently.

Basic ingredients are CRB blank, ALPS MVT reel seat and SEA-GUIDE guides.

SEA-GUIDE KR concept guides

Rubberize cork butt with decorative trimming.

Setting up of EVA grips

Aluminum trimming between reel seat and rear grip.

A closer look at the decorative trimming at the butt cap.

Reel seat full handle setup and test fit.

Guide wrapping - Black thread with metallic red trim

Epoxy over rod decal.

Epoxy over guide wrapping.

Completed epoxy to guides.

Guide lined up

Completed rod ...

United Composite 5'6" 4-10lb midget

This is the 9th rod for 2016... It's already the beginning of the 2nd half of 2016 and I guess I am slightly behind target. :)

The blank used for this rod is from United Composite, it is 5'6" in length rated at 4-10 pound. Custom built to be a single hand casting rod with cork grip split handle.

I have never tried doing a split handle for single hand casting grip as it is only around 5" long but no harm trying.

Fuji skeleton trigger reel seat with aluminum insert and screw from Matagi.

Done with the little fighting butt and on with the rear grip.

MATAGI butt cap

Lathed rear cork grip

Fitting the handle

Fuji guide setting

Trying out the new Fuji titanium RV guide. It was said to have a faster and smoother line control when casting. It is very light and perfectly sized to work with any low profile bait casting reel.

After epoxy.

Guides layout

And for the fine touch... as usual I will apply the cork seal to the cork handle.

A photo showing before and after the Cork Seal was applied to the cork handle.
You will not see much difference aesthetically and it feels the same too, but it gives you better protection to the cork handle and prolong its' life span.

It took about 6 weeks to complete this, hope its' owner is happy about having his ideas turning into reality.

CROOKED JiggeR Light - PE 0.6-1.5

It is already over mid of May 2016 and this is only the 8th rod built for the year 2016. Having the thoughts of building 2 rods per month cannot be realized.

Customization of Jigging rods seems like a trend nowadays and people tends to preferred customized over ready made rods in tackle shop.

Well, here another jigging rod built in the month of May. One after another.

Setting up the reel seat

Fuji KR guides

Metallic purple and silver for wrapping . Matching ALPS butt caps as well.

writing on blanks

After epoxy

Wrapping up the guides

After epoxy..

Simple handle

Long butt

the whole length