Correct me if I’m wrong, but the rod you're planning to build is for surf fishing, right?

Assuming you want a fiberglass blank, blanks from Lamiglas and Fenwick were what has traditionally been used in the northeast. These rods are usually in the 10-1/2’ to 11-1/2’ range.

I’ll throw out a couple of blank numbers. These are what I use for fishing Long Island and Cape Cod.

Lamiglas SSB136 2M, 11-1/3' long, rated for 3 - 5 oz lures.

Fenwick SU1265F, 10-1/2' long, rated for 3 - 6 oz lures.

I tend to doubt that these are still made, but you can use these specs as a guide.

Tough to judge from that, I’m afraid. Stripers can run from a few pounds to 10 times that. We’d need to know more about what style of fishing he usually partakes in. Possibly if you knew a specific reel model he uses, I could probably infer a rod from that.

Thanks guys for the help, I will try and get more information about the type of fishing he does. This would be a surprise gift so I need to be a little discreet.
Thank you