Plain answers to the questions rod builders actually ask — guide placement, blank action versus power, finish failures, what a first build really costs — each answered from manufacturer documentation and public craft archives, and linked back to them.
Three methods exist and they do not agree: Fuji's New Guide Concept chart, the K·R Concept chart, and a static test done with the rod under load. Published layouts get you close; the static test is how every method ends.
Action is where the blank bends; power is how much force it takes to bend it. They are independent specs, they use the same adjectives, and two brands' 'fast' rods can bend differently because no standard defines the words.
Usually silicone contamination — from syringes, monofilament, skin oils or lubricant-carrying thread — though a too-thin coat or over-sanded surface produces the same craters. Most fisheyes fix in place without stripping the rod.
No — not on the first rod, and usually not ever once your time is worth any hourly rate. A first build costs $112–600 in materials across three honest tiers; tools only stop mattering around the fifth rod.
Builders disagree and both camps publish arguments: find the spine and align guides with it for power, or ignore it because modern blanks vary little. No test settles it, so decide deliberately rather than by accident.
Cork feels warmer, transmits feedback better and shapes to the hand; EVA costs less, shrugs off abuse, fish slime and sunlight, and outlives cork. It is a feel-versus-durability trade, and serious builders own both kinds of rod.
Size A (.006") for the finest freshwater wraps, D (.010") when ease and durability matter more than looks. And nylon does not darken under epoxy — it goes translucent, so the blank's colour bleeds through your colour choice.
The answers here are free and complete as answers. What we sell is the whole craft written down in one place:
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