MHX rod blanks?

[K-DAWG]

What's the difference in the MHX S-Glass and MHX X-Composite Blanks. Think my first rod is going to be a Square bill rod.

[ridgerunner6901]

S glass is made of structural fiberglass, composite means a blend of things, usually fiberglass and graphite. I have no experience with a composite blank from mhx but their s glass are good. I would also look at rod geeks s glass in the 7 mhm for square bills.

[Bassbme]

One of the first rods I built, actually the second rod I built, I built specifically for throwing squarebills into wood cover. I built it on a Rainshadow RX7 CB66MH crankbait blank. Although I don't think it really matters, I believe they are 100% graphite.

As I built it for throwing crankbaits into wood cover, I needed a rod I could cast accurately so I trimmed 6" off the butt of the blank to build a 6' rod. It is an awesome rod for its intended purpose. It handles baits the size of KVD 1.5s and 2.0s extremely well. It's light and has good sensitivity, which is something that I think is important in a crankbait rod.

Admittedly the only fiberglass crankbait rod I have ever used was one of the first versions of the Bass Pro Crankin Stick, so it wouldn't be a fair comparison to today's glass rod blanks. But that rod was heavy and had very little sensitivity. Just as today's fiberglass crankbait blanks are better than days of old, so are their graphite counterparts. Blank builders know how to build excellent graphite crankbait blanks these days. It's all about the modulus of the material and where its position is in the blank, and not the material itself.

Rainshadow's RX7 series has been upgraded and is now the Revelation series. And if I had to chose between a Rainshadow blank and an MHX blank, I'd choose the Rainshadow every time. Rainshadow makes awesome rod blanks!!!

[K-DAWG]

Well, I have a Powell Diesel 705 Composite crank bait rod. Its got an s-glass in the tip area and graphite or carbon fiber in the butt section. I use it for square bills and I love it. So, Ridgerunner kinda answered my question for me. I just got a sweet deal on a St. Croix Mojo Crankster S- glass rod. So I am gonna use it a little bit and see which I like better of the 2 the straight s-glass of composite. I think the composite kinda gives you a little of the best of each. The lightness and sensitivity of the carbon fiber and the forgiving flexibility of the glass.

[willwork4fish]

Rod Geeks S glass is a composite. There may be some weight savings but there's not an increase in sensitivity. The butt end is graphite (about the back 1/3) and then it transitions to Sglass. That's why it doesn't have the huge OD at the butt end of a Seeker BS706. I feel like the RG glass MHM is pretty much identical to the BS706.

[Bassbme]

Oh I certainly didn't mean to imply that an S Glass or a composite blank wouldn't be a good choice. Quite the contrary. I guess I just hear a lot about much better glass or composite blanks are for crankbaits compared to 100% graphite blanks. And I haven't found that to be the case.

And I agree with your thoughts on a composite blank. In fact, if I used crankbaits a lot I'd build on a blank with the same kind of construction as the Diesel 705 you mentioned.

If you're looking for a blank that is probably very similar to the Diesel, you may want to take a look at the Judge series of crankbait blanks from Rainshadow. http://www.rainshadowrodblanks.com/p...dge-crankbait/

It's much more costly than the blanks you mentioned in your opening post though. If I remember correctly, $134 for the 7' heavy power model.

[BRADVAN]

I have built several rods using MHX blanks. Never used the S-glass or X-composite, but have used the Crankbait series and the spinner bait series. The crankbait and spinnerbait series weight of the blank (physical weight) is almost half the weight of the S and X series. CB-843-blend was a little light for my tastes. CB-903-blend and CB-905-blend I use often. SB-812-blend is my go rod for spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, shallow crankbaits, senkos, etc. At 6'9" it works very well in timber, around docks, roll casting. When I fish as a co-angler it is one pole I always take one with me.

[SMRanger619]

I have built the CB903 and CB905 they both perform very well.