Reel Seat Question

I have an AllStar WR1 that I would like to change the reel seat on. Is it possible to swap those out? I want to put something on it where the blank is through the seat (exposed on the bottom).

Also was wondering about the grip, can you just swap grips out? Maybe change to a split grip, and if so, how do you go about it?

Thanks.

I see two problems with your project.

1. with the guides still on the rod it'll be very tricky to ream out your new grips to the proper diameter and not have a loose fit because your only option is to slide it from the butt up.

2. getting a reel seat off can vary in difficulty depending on what glue the manufacturer used. most come off with a good application of heat, others don't..

if it were me i would strip the rod down to a blank and start over. how you'd go about it depends on if you want to glue up your own handle out of cork rings or you wanted to use a preformed grip. preformed grips are easier but leave little room for customization and are generally made of very poor quality cork. with cork rings it's more work requiring more specialized equipment and cork quality still varies.

now that I think about it if the reel seat fits the rod properly you may not be able to get the reel seat off without removing the guides anyway... i'd start the project with the understanding i might have to rebuild the entire rod.. not hard to do just time consuming.

Converting the grips to a split grip isn't really much of a problem. Any competent Custom Builder can handle that. Changing out the reelseat can be an issue though. With a blank exposed seat you wont be able to slide it on from the rear because it wont fit tight enough. Depending on guide sizes you may be able to only remove the last few larger guides and get the seat over the smaller guides towards the tip. Epoxy the seat in place and then rewrap and epoxy the guides. Your best bet would be to get a with a Custom Builder and let them know exactly what you want done, see if they feel comfortable doing it and get a price. It probably wont be cheap, but that is probably the best way. If you decide to do it yourself I would be glad to help if you have questions, email if you need to.

Also, something to think about. Is it worth going through all of this for the rod. Is this a rod that you really like enough to dump money into?

Thanks for the responses. I know those questions probably sounded dumb, but I have no clue on how a reel seat or grips go on a rod, so I had to ask if it was possible.

Is it a rod I really like, and is it worth the money? Heck I doubt it, but I figured if I was going to try a bit of rod building/repair, that would be one that I could live without if I hosed it up. http://www.bassboatcentral.com/smileys/roll.gif

Hah, nothing wrong with trying. Messing with my own rods got me into it, and now I do it as a side business. George Roth has a good article on splitting grips on his website, http://www.georgescustomrods.com. The reelseat is the challange. the last one I removed I cut it down the length very carefully with a dremel cutoff wheel and was able to pry it off once I had it split in two. Sometimes you can heat with a heat gun and break the bond that way. It can be touch. The only plus you may have is that it is probably mounted on some sort of arbor since it is not blank exposed, so it might be easier to remove.

The only thing I am worried about is having to take off and put guides back on, I dont have a threading machine. And have no clue how to take the guides off/remove the epoxy that holds them on.

The handle isnt really that bad, I can live with it, but that solid reel seat, which is the only rod I have with a solid seat, is very uncomfortable. although it would be cool to have a WR1 with a split grip and one of those trick colored reel seats. http://xs-s.com/zf/images/smile/emthup.gif

Bryan, check out http://www.rodbuilding.org. You can find TONS on of info and help on doing this stuff there. If you are not looking at getting into rodbuilding than you might want to find someone in your area that can do the work. I would imagine any of the board sponsors can do it if you want to ship it to them. IM me if you need help finding someone. I could do it, but I am in Illinois so shipping would add up, plus it would be good to give one of the board sponsors a shot first.

Scott

Thanks for the info Bassn, I have been in contact with one of our sponsors, and we are working some things out on the WR1.