I ordered a 7ft medium extra fast SCV St.Croix blank that I had not got around to building. As per chance would have it I found a 6ft 8" factory extreme rod at a popular Birmingham sporting's good store for $260.00 I could not turn it down for that as it was a manufactures sample. It had three Fuji tangle free stripper guides and dropped off to 5mm. tangle free concepts. Since I am a user of braid I like the concepts. I decided to build the other one. I started with number 20 stripper guide and worked down to a 10 and went to the no five concept guides. Even though it is a couple of inches longer than the factory extreme , I ended up using one less guide and in my opinion ended up with a smoother and less angular arch.
The point of all this is that it drove home why I like to build rods. I was able to size a perfect fitting cork handle to fit my hand, one piece like I like. The extreme has split seats and small split grips. I was able to wrap the threads tighter and use a beautifully crimson thread with a black metallic trim ring in the middle. In addition the thread glue did not look like a gobbed on football. To beat it all with the same reel and 10 pound braid, my rod outcasts the factory one. It was a treat to be able to see the difference side by side and realize the time we put in a rod is worth it., The extreme factory rod is a fine rod, that I am proud to own, but I like the one I built to suit me better!.

Another interesting point is St. Croix does not put a hook keeper on the top of the line extreme. I was curious and called St. Croix about it and their rep told me no matter where they put it someone complained so they decided not to do it all together. I fixed that on the store bought extreme as I am not going to ruin the guides by hooking a hook in them. I used a traditional small hook keeper that I tied to the left side of the rod with green thread and a metallic green trim ring in the middle to match their thread pattern.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/2016 07:42PM by Jim Howell.

Glad to here this. I've yet compared a custom rod to a factory rod with the same blank. I might have to build an scV and compare it with my friends scV

If you decide to build an SV, call St. Croix and they will give you the specific spacing recommendations for the rod. Then I adjust from there. It is a good starting point and they seem to like to help.

The only keeper I have experienced line tangles/snags with is on the left side. :-)

What does less angular arch mean?

Telling you that they don't put a hook keeper on a SCV because no matter where they put it someone would complain is pure @#$%&. If you had asked him, using his own statement, why is it okay to
to put hook keepers on any of their rods if you can't please anyone??? Truth is it costs less to make that rod without a hook keeper and over time that savings is huge. I have installed the keepers for the guys that have them and all wished it had come with one, and for the price it should have had one.

Same can be said for split grips. Manufacturers use less cork and charge more telling everyone what a great idea it is, for them it is! Although I have to say I like split grips.

Tom

Less angle from one guide to the next when the rod is flexed.More of a smooth parabola. .This is important with concept guides, when they get to 5mm or less. I have a bait caster rod that I put on the right hand side of the rod but that is where I have problems snagging. The factory Loomis that I have had all these years come with the hook keeper on the left side and have not caused me any heartburn..



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/31/2016 03:58PM by Jim Howell.

If you liked the story the Croix rep gave, then you will like the one the kid at the sporting goods store told me. He said they did not put hook keepers on Extremes because it would weaken the blank!
I called him out on the spot for that one! I suspect the real reason as you said ,the cost.

If you liked the story the Croix rep gave, then you will like the one the kid at the sporting goods store told me. He said they did not put hook keepers on Extremes because it would weaken the blank!
I called him out on the spot for that one! I suspect the real reason as you said ,the cost.

A super easy way to install a hook keeper: Drill a hole in the trigger of the reel seat and sand the edges of the hole. Done. No wraps, no tangles.

Trinity,

You will stop doing that after the lure gets caught on something and you break the trigger off of a reel seat and requiring that the rod be rebuilt. . You can do this to your rods, but I would never take a chance on drilling a hole like this and having a lure catch and break the reel seat.

Be safe

I've drilled a 1/8 " hole in the trigger for a hook keeper for 15 years with zero failures, can't imagine what it would take to cause a failure, the downside is some have pricked their hand on the exposed hook tip. I just don't put my hand there when carrying my rods.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/2016 03:37PM by Spencer Phipps.

Agree with Spencer... You're going to need to apply a pretty substantial force to break a trigger off a reel seat. I've done this to all of my own rods from light cranking rods for bass all the way up to 10'6" XXH musky rods. I've yet to run into an issue.
If you are that desperate for a hook keeper, the hood of the reel seat along the foot of the reel works well, or the reel itself... I guess I just see them as an unnecessary add on.