Hi All,

I'm building a few MHX spin rod blanks. So far I've built a 6'6" Medium and ML rods with Pac Bay GBS blank-exposed real seats.

I'm now building the same 6'6" L and UL rods and their blank diameters are smaller and the GBS real seats ID are too large for the blanks.

Any suggestions for real seats (split grip) where the ID of the real seat will be tight to the blank so I maximize sensitivity?

Thanks in advance,
Preston

Shimming a seat with lightweight rigid arbors will provide, to the human hand, just as much sensitivity as mounting the seat directly to the blank. And, this allows you to correctly (ergonomically) fit the seat to your hand. Most reel seats are much too small in OD to correctly fit the human hand. Shortly after WWII, our military did several in depth studies on the correct diameter for best fit to the human hand, the size that would allow best control for the least amount of effort and fatigue. I included portions of these studies in the article RodMaker did on reel seat and handle ergonomics in the Volume 10 #3 issue.

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Studies have shown the the optimum diameter for our hands to grip is about 40mm or 1.5 inches.
As I understand it, this give the maximum amount of contact between flesh and handle, and so the strongest grip...
The problem with this information is that I doubt you will want to apply a death grip to an UL spinning rod.
Personally I like #17 fuji VSS and #16 Areo reel seats on my Crappie, Bass, and Walleye spinning rods.
However, I have used #16 VSS on ultra lights with success.

Gary is making a good point about the reel seats/grips appropriate for UL rods. When the grip gets too big on a really light duty rod, a rod that doesn't require much muscle to use it, it can feel a little clunky when you more likely want "dainty." I fully support larger seats for even many light rods, and all rods heavier duty than that.