Building my first bass rod on this blank. Can anyone recommend which reel seat size to go with? Also making it a split grip. What distance should I use from the butt of the rod to where the reel seat starts? Thanks

Casting rod or spinning rod?

Personally, I prefer 16mm casting seats with the blank exposed, but not a split seat on blanks like this. When ordering, you order the ID that closely matches the blank where the seat will go and ream for a final fitting. For spinning seats, I ditch the seat all together and use a split woven graphite Tennessee handle with the reel wrapped not the grip. If a spinning seat is a must, I either use a 18mm seat or will wrap a plate style seat on the split TN handle. The 18mm seat has an OD of a little less than an inch, and fills my small hands much better than the typical 17mm seats you see used on bass rods at the store. If you have large hands, you might want to go even larger on a spinning seat.

My personal rods of this length will measure about 9.5" from butt to the trigger of the casting seat of the reel stem on a spinning rod, so about 9" from butt to start of casting seat. The measurement will depend on whether your spinning seat is up-locking or down-locking.

Of course these are my personal preferences, but yours may be completely different. Some find the split seats more comfortable, some like a large non exposed blank seat on a casting rod etc.

Casting build using Fuji deluxe casting seat not the exposed kind. Thanks

The distance is up to you. Whether it's 9-10-11 or 12 inches. Measure the grip on one of your favorite rods and if that length suits you go for it. If you're using a standard Fuji reel seat without the cut out glue in a Flex Coat arbor into the seat and after its cured ream the arbor to fit the blank at the position you choose.

Lance
[swamplandtackle.com]

Because of the way they are held, my casting rod handles are generally a bit shorter than my spinning handles.
In the end, length will depend on what you will do with the rod.
As a rule of thumb, 12 inches is very long, IMO, and eight is quite short for me.

However on a rod for Jerk baits I like a shorter handle so that it doesn't bang into my forearm all the time.

I have big hands and long arms, I normally want something around 9 or 10 inches, but testing is the secret of a rod builders life...grin.

If you don't have or don't want to use Flex Coat, or Fuji arbors, tape works just fine.
Size 16 or 17 are both okay for bass size rods.
You probably don't want to go larger because any reel that needs a bigger reel seat than that will make your rod top heavy.

Derrek,

I have built a lot of the MHX MB843 rods for my customers. IMHO they are a super "all around" excellent blank. I use the Fuji ACS exposed blank reel seat and place it 9 1/2" up from the butt of the rod. You could use a split grip, although they are a little more difficult to mount on the blank. After building several for clients and listening to how much they liked the rod, I built one for personal use. It has a great tip and plenty of backbone. I use it for about everything: Senkos, Worming large & small, Jigs etc. You've made a great choice for your first rod...enjoy!

Don Campbell
don@sensorfishingrods.com

I used a size 16 ACS, My rear grip was a total of 9 inches. Loved the rod and it was very versatile