I hope it works out well for you! I had an FF60 for a bit and thought was absolutely wonderful. But the grip and seat belonged on a rod two feet longer and a line size or two more. I think you'll be really pleased with the changes once they're made.

As far as getting the seat off, try submersing it in boiling water, using a heavy duty Ziploc bags or something to keep everything from just coming apart in the pot.

This will help: https://fiberglassflyrodders.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=44203&p=169905&hilit=remove+reel+seat#p169905

These are good suggestions. All of them. I'm very glad I asked for help. I see simply cutting the blank can be a last resort. I am in no hurry so as the Rolling Stones said, "Time is on my side". Sorry, I couldn't help myself after the Grateful Dead theme rod pictures. Thank you fellas, Phil. And see you at the Coulee Conclave.

Success! I boiled the seat after explaining to my wife we really weren't having cork with a side of fishscales for supper. It took about an hour but helped a lot after I got the rubber plug out and allowed access to the inside of seat. I used my wife's heavy silicone oven mitts and stayed dry and burn free. Cleaned up the blank and cut back to solid cork and glued back on fresh cork rings with Gorilla glue. With enough clamping pressure that does a real nice job. Next is turning down to profile and then I have a couple brass rings I cut from a .50 cal casing. That happens to be a good size for rings and I think the color will harmonize well with the rest of the rod. Lastly will glue on an undrilled corkring for flare to keep rings on the seat. After that I will cut back a little more from the front of the old grip. I think I will have removed about 3.5" from front of grip when all is said and done. Then will profile overall grip to what I personally prefer. It's no longer an original Fenwick, but will be a fine "fishing" rod. I'm not a collector but a fisherman. I'm not free with my bucks ( read financially challenged, not tight) so I try to have rods I actually use. And thanks to your help THIS will be I'm sure, one of my favorites on a narrow local stream. One thing I have learned regarding the small Fenwicks is while you may be able to cast a fer piece with them when needed, it can be tricky to get a hookset with too much line out. I once fished with my buddys 535 (?) and had a blast but missed half my hooksets with the mass of the 5wt absorbing a lot of the hookset energy if too long a line. I later tried a 3 on it and got better hooksets but too much tip bounce. So, 5wt line but short casts. Light enough mass for hooksets, heavy enough mass to negate tip bounce. When the Rod is finished I will try to figure out how to post pics. It may not win any awards but Thanks to you all, it will be very functional and fun. Oh, and now I have a perfect reelseat for my yellow 102-7 1 pc. blank. Just gotta find 1 more locking ring for seat. Thanks Guys! Phil R.