Here you see 3 ways how to tune rods at their joints to get a better action.
http://rutenbauforum.de/rodbuilding/thr ... post115713The 1. picture shows a rod like yours - changing a tip over butt ferrule into a spigot ferrule.
In this case I cut back both ends to have 2 pieces of the same length.
But than you need a new spigot.
The 2. rod, the Greys GS 2 I shortened only on one side until I could use the upper 3,5 inchs off the cut away part as a spigot. Here I get a shorter rod piece than the other 3.
In your case I would only cut the handle until you could use the upper end as a spigot and then add an extra piece at the lower end of the handle. Doing this, you wouldn´t lose any lenght and you would have to find only 2 more spigots for your 4 - piece rod.
The 3. case I show is something in between: Here it was not possible to use a spigot, as I would have to cut back the lower piece to much. Here I had to grind a new tip over butt ferrule. But as I lose a lot of wallstrength it is neccesary to glue a piece of hollow blank into this section. This extra piece should be about 1/2 inch longer than the grinded part.