This is my first build and I am replacing my most used (and recently broken) BPS Extreme M spinning rod. I fish mostly 4" tubes, creature baits, and soft jerkbaits with this rod. I am considering the MHX SJ843 for this initially build.

I'm having a hard time understadig the rod blank to commercial price difference. Can a $60 blank really produce a rod comparable to a $200 commercial buy?

I'd love to experiment with a few cheaper blanks and make rods for my teenage sons - they're fishing Berkley Lightning rods now, which cost around $40 ( a great buy at that price). From what I know about rod building (and it's very little) it seems that blank would run about $15 to $20. Can I hear a few opinions on blanks that might compare to a good budget rod such as the Lightning Rod? From what I've read, the MHX SJ843 (at $55) is a grat blank that will likely produce a rod at least as good, and most likely better, than my old BPS Extreme. Sound about right? Any other blank recommendation for under $60 that would work well for my intended use?

Thanks in advance.

Pat

A $60 rod blank will generally produce a rod far superior to the $200 finished rod. The rod you mention probably costs less than $15 on the manufacturer's end. Of course, you are also paying some mark up when you buy individual rod blanks and components, but combined with what is often a better quality component part plus your own expertise (assuming it is sufficient) you can easily build a better rod that you can buy.

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Thanks Tom, that's very helpful. Here in St. Louis I don't believe I have anywhere to go and check out blanks firsthand so I'm reliant on information I can get online and then take a leap of faith when buying a blank.

Pat

If you can find any leftover Batson RX-7's buy em'. Lynn

Pat, I just started building my own rods this year, and I used an MHX SJ783 for that build. The 783 is 6" shorter than the SJ843, but I would assume they have the same attributes. If so, then you'll be happy with the blank. It should be a nice light weight blank, with good sensitivity, and good power. My only suggestion would be that you ask Mud Hole to take the blank out of its plastic sheath, and visually inspect the blank prior to them shipping it. That's not to say that any supplier would knowingly try to pass off damaged or cosmetically challenged blanks. It's just that the plastic sheath the blank will come in can make seeing damage or blemishes in the blanks finish, nearly impossible.

It's a suggestion I would make regardless of the supplier, or the brand of blank. And is a request I make when I order a blank. I'm sure suppliers don't find such a request, out of the ordinary, and it's one that could save you possible delays, if something were to be wrong with the blank, before it leaves the supplier.

As far as whether or not building on a blank in that price range will result in a rod that performs like a $200 factory rod goes. I don't have enough experience as of yet, to say whether it will or not, but I'm sure Tom is correct when he says, it should. With that said, how close it will be to performing like a $200 factory rod, depends on how you build it. I say that based on the performance difference I saw in a couple of my factory rods, by simply changing the guides

One of the things that rod builders can do, that factories can't , is build a rod for a very narrow range of line sizes, or a specifi line type. Nor can factories build for one specific reel size. They have to make rods for the masses.You get to make them for the individual. If you know the size reel you'll be using on the rod, and the type and size of the line you'll be using, you can dial your guide train in, to optimize your rods performance, I say guide train because even with my limited experience, it is clear to me that the guide train has a HUGE influence on rod performance. Put a well designed and properly spaced guide train on an average blank, and that rod can perform well above average. Put a poorly designed and poorly spaced guide train on an above average blank, and that rod can perform average, or even poorly.

One thing I know for sure is ..... of the 5 rods I've built thus far, every one of them performs far better than a factory rod whose price would match the cost of the materials I used to build them. As the rods I've built are for my own personal use, any time I have invested in building them is a labor of love (and now addiction) is actually a cost savings. And the smile on your face when you catch a personal best or a money winning fish on a rod you built, is priceless.

Almost forgot ..... deffinitely take Lynn's adivce and check out the Batson line of blanks. Two of my builds have been on their blanks, with one of them being on the RX7 line mentioned. It was a crankbait blank so not the type of blank you're looking for. But it's a great blank. I have no doubt that any of the blanks from the RX7 line are just as good. And in the future if you ever decide to build on a higher priced blank, be sure to do yourself a favor and check out the Immortal series from Batson. Their name fits their perforance to a tee.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2015 07:41AM by David Baylor.

All my life I fished with BPS and Berkley rods like you mention and thought they were great. My first build was an MHX MB843 - which is apparently similar to the SJ version you are talking about but stouter. Aside from beginner's mistakes with the aesthetics (a bit messy application of the finish) it is definitely another world compared to my old rods. It just feels different, and not just because its lighter. It could be because it has more guides on it than what my old Berkley rods had, but the modern components and layout system gives it all a different feel to me, in a good way. I don't know what it would technically be worth, and I never fished with a $200+ rod before. But this one is mine made with my own hands, and it is clearly better than my old rods. When you finish that SJ843 you'll love it!

If you want something cheaper than the MHX rods, all I've really seen in my limited experience shopping around are the CRB line of blanks, also from Mudhole. Those are in the $16-30 range, and I believe I've read on this site that they make nice rods. These are all just comments from a beginner to another beginner - whatever you do, trust me, you won't regret it. Except you'll get cravings to do more builds...

As Smoky Robinson once said..."My mama told me, 'you better shop around'"
The MHX blanks are great. However, there are often sales elsewhere if you check our other sponsors.
Personally, I always look at Get Bit. They often have discontinued name brand blanks on sale, plus great prices on cork..
Many of my personal blanks come from Karen at Bingham Enterprises.
She has high quality, private branded blanks at excellent prices.
For Batson - Rainshadow, I use often use Utmost Enterprises. They also have excellent prices on hardware.

As a general rule personally, I see a custom rod being the quality of a commercial rod that's 2x the price. So if I spend $75 on my componets, it will come out being quality of a $150 rod. There are so many variables in rod building it's crazy. I have looked at commercial rods only to see that I don't like where the hook keeper is, what type it is, it's not the reel seat I like, or so on. Custom building allows you to make it the way you want it.

If you are making you first build I would highly recommend going with a lower cost build, or even a kit. Mudholes CRB series is good for the price. Buying equipment can get expensive, or you can have little to no cost in equipment depending on what you have around the house.

You might also want to take time and research this forum, and the library page.

You bring up an interesting point and I tend to agree, but would use different wording, sort of. The same people who build the $50 rods also build the $200 rods, so the quality (workmanship, fit, finish, etc.,) are apt to be the same regardless of how much the rod cost. The parts are generally better on the more expensive rods and I believe this is what Miles means when says "quality."

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How the heck are any of you guys building rods for $ 50.00 and good ones for 200.00

Is that complete ?? Where are you getting your parts and how much are you charging on labor

And people have called ME CHEAP

Jann's Netcraft ????

Bill - willierods.com



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/26/2015 05:55PM by bill boettcher.

Pat, You need to look at Schneiders Rod Shop, a sponser on the left side. Ron Schneider is in Mt. Home, Ark. I don't think that's to far away from you and it would be worth your time to make the trip. Ron will give you great advice and he has a lot of blanks there to hold in your hand and feel their bend and powers. Also has some on sale this month. I've always found him to be great to deal with and very knowledgeable.

Pat, You need to look at Schneiders Rod Shop, a sponser on the left side. Ron Schneider is in Mt. Home, Ark. I don't think that's to far away from you and it would be worth your time to make the trip. Ron will give you great advice and he has a lot of blanks there to hold in your hand and feel their bend and powers. Also has some on sale this month. I've always found him to be great to deal with and very knowledgeable.

Agree!!!

Bill, I interpreted it as if you were building a rod for yourself, and what the comparative value would be at retail prices. Like ....... would a rod that had a total cost of materials of say .....$100, perform like a factory rod that retailed for $200. If you're building it for yourself, cost of labor is not a factor.

And I'm in total agreement with Garry on using Utmost. They're awesome to deal with, and as he said, they have great prices. And their speed of shipping and shipping costs are out of this world good.

Thanks a lot guys, this has been very helpful.

As you might imagine, I want to keep the cost down on my first build as it likely won't be as nice as, say... my 3rd or 4th, etc. But, at the same time, I don't want to build the equipment and invetst the time only to end up with the equivalent of an Ugly Stik. The consensus here is that if I buy even a $40 blank, use fairly decent materials, and do a good job putting it all together...I'll end up with a rod that should, generally speaking, compare AT LEAST to a $80 commercail rod. That puts it it he company of Bass Pro Bionic Blade, Browning Medallion series, UBU Garcia Vendetta, etc.

That being said, I think my fist buidl will be on the Mudhole CRB IM6 series. I can et a blank for around $25 and the end result should be soemthing I can give to one of my teenage sons, or my wife. The next (next several) will be higher-end, though I doubt I'll ever spend > $70 or $80.

When I was starting out I built a lot of rods from kits. You get a better price that way than buying individual components.
Beyond what came in the kit, I needed a couple of reamers, some spools of thread, tape, epoxy and finish.
After gaining some experience, I started modifying the cork that came in the kit, to create split grips, and shortening the threads on the reel seats, to fit specific reels...The next step was ordering my own blanks and buying higher end guides etc.
However, those kit rods are still in service and were better than anything I could have bought ready - made, for the same money.

I agree with Garry. You said you plan on doing a CRB kit, which would be my first and utmost suggestion for a first time builder. After your first build, and each one thereafter, you will see things you could have done differently/better. So instead of spending extra money, I would buy a basic kit and learn how the trade works hands on. Hopefully others can conquer with me on this!

Thanks for all the great advice. I can see that rod building is a bit like brewing, a hobby of mine for almost 20 years. Most folks new to the addiction are told to start out by purchasing a kit. It has all you need to make pretty good beer and you don't need to bother with the intricacies of recipe design, complicated mash schedules, or building advanced brewing equipment. You need only to follow the instructions and make, again...pretty darn good beer…with the water out of your tap, a 2 gallon pot, and a 5 gallon bucket.

Personally, I make the “start with a kit” recommendation to wanna-be brewers all the time. But for me…I couldn’t start like that. As much as I want to get my feet wet – I’m pretty good at throttling back my ambition. Not to say I couldn’t wait to try my hand at brewing – or in this case rod building – I just understand that there’s more to the hobby than your average Joe might think.

I’m likely not going to start with a kit, for various reasons, but I’m also not going to build a rod any time in the next few months. I’m currently designing my rod dryer and pretty much just reading all I can – watching videos, etc. – and taking lots of notes.
Expect to hear from me on this forum a lot over the next 2 or 3 months – asking all kinds of newbie questions. Already I can see by the posts I’ve been reading (not this thread mind you) that this hobby is very much like brewing – there is clearly a lot of bad information out there. Perhaps I shouldn’t say, “bad”, maybe “overly subjective” is a better term. It’s going to take some time to read between the lines.

Thanks again for your input everyone, I need it!

I just re-read this thread and did not see any info that was " bad" or "overly" subjective. Pretty much spot on info for the first time builder.

A component kit is the way to go. Matched blank, grip, seat and guides. It takes the common mistakes out of your first build.

A CRB dryer is only $35. You don't want to build a rod and have your dryer malfunction and ruin your work.

Thanks for the reply friend, but you didn't re-read the post close enough or you would have read where I explicitly pointed out that I dind't see anything "bad" or "overly subjective" in this thread, either.

From the post directly above yours...
"...I can see by the posts I’ve been reading (not this thread mind you) ..."

I understand that 100% of everyone reading this post is more experienced that I am. But fundamentally speaking, a kit doesn't teach the first time builder anything more about component matching or rod design than making a batch of brownies from an instant mix box teaches someone what role baking powder plays in a recipe.

Again, I agree that the advice given in this thread is "spot on" for the first time-builder, as you said. Just not all first-time builders - and that's just fine.

Pat Reddy
Riverbound Brew Co.
St. Louis, MO