Just finished this 3/4 weight 5-piece built on a Proof “Twig” blank. I haven’t fished it yet, but I got it out in the back yard this morning with a DT4, and it felt nice. Slightly disappointed in the reel seat. It doesn’t give the smooth and secure “metal sliding over metal” feeling as you tighten it down. Just sort of stops suddenly. I tried it with three different reels and it was the same. Hopefully, it doesn’t loosen up when fishing.

Nice - came out really well and I think you made the right choice on the ferrule wraps!

Beautiful, love the color combination!

Recently used the same seat from Proof, rub a little paraffin into the threads, made mine much smoother.

Gaddis, you probably know this, but for others who wonder. Spare the threads. Seat the sliding hood with finger pressure, not use of the locking ring as a clamp. Snug the locking ring with the hood held firmly in place. Now it relaxes just a bit and locks the ring against the threads.

In building a rod with a spacer style seat, the length of the spacer affects the range of hood/tightening positions. The threaded portion may be cut slightly, positioned lower/higher in order to give the most convenient tightening range and clearance from the rear of the grip, and for the foot of the reel(s) that will be used. The standard, generic length may be ideal but has to be adaptable to a wider range of reels. Most likely is that the insert length can be shortened 1/4" to 1/2" and about the same for the threaded barrel. The position on the blank where you want the grip to guide your hand is also a factor.

Aha, thanks. That's what I get for not enlarging both pics. Looks like a separate hood on casual glance at one of the pics.

Nice !!!

So far, I like the way it casts with a DT4. One of the ferrules did loosen up after about an hour of fishing, so the ferrule fit may not be ideal. Overall, I am pretty happy with it.

Nice multi piece build

After fishing this rod for a few months, I’ve come to some conclusions on what line weights work best with it. At first I liked it with a DT4. That’s because I was mostly casting and not fishing. Then when the trout season got underway for real, I took it on a few trips on one of my local streams, which is small water. Lengthier casts were ok, but in-close fishing did not feel good at all. Today I went fishing for a couple of hours and decided to take this rod, but I put a DT5 on it. It felt just right.

+1 on the follow up, really helpful to hear your thoughts on line weight and casting characteristics.