What follows is my 3rd build. Sorry for the crappy photos, I wanted to take some outside, but we have been short on sunshine.
The reel seat is dyed buckeye burl from Ray Lee. My first sliding band reel seat ever. I was always worried about the reel coming lose, but it works great (you were right Marty).
Everything else is from Proof: Snake brand eco light wire guides, low profile stripping guide, Fish Hawk medium brown thread (no cp - I love how it gets a reddish hue on the Lami blank), TM lite epoxy, and 5.75" full wells grip.
Another first for me was modifying a the grip. It felt a bit big for my hand, so I turned my electric drill into a lathe and took it down to my liking, that was fun.
Still room for improvement. I checked those wraps numerous times before covering with epoxy and still I had some blank showing through in places - I swear I had no gaps. Any suggestions?
Also, I used an acrylic paint pen for the inscription, which got kinda wide for my tastes. Marty Romeo has given me some suggestions on using India ink.
When I coated the inscription with epoxy, it got a bit lumpy. I carefully sanded smooth and tried again, really going thin and spreading it out, and still it wound up kind of lumpy. Any suggestions on that?
Thanks so much to Matt from Proof and Marty from Deep Bend Rodworks for putting up with my questions and for everyone else on this forum. What a great resource and everyone is so helpful. Gaddis, I used the spacing you posted awhile ago.
Finally (sorry this got so long), the cork is already soiled, I got a few outings with this rod and love it! Dries, nymphs, and streamers, it is a great small/medium trout rod. Donny, you are right - it is a "goldilocks" rod!