modding your rod????

TheCroust

Well-known member
Hello people. This is one for the DIY rod builders - I've got a Shakespeare Salt spinning rod, lovely to use but I keep finding the butt is a bit long and gets in the way when flicking lures or float tackle out. The reel seat is the kind of height you would expect on, say, a bass rod or light beach rod. I was wondering if anyone has done anything like cutting a rod down, I can't see any reason why lopping a few inches off the butt would affect it. I do have experience cutting carbon as I work in a bike shop, we have to cut carbon seatposts and stuff like that.
What bothers me is the shrink wrapping getting cut and what to replace it with - maybe grip tape or some kind of foam sleeve? Also can you buy a replacement butt cap?
Any advice on this potentially risky procedure would be appreciated...
thanks
 
hot water should remove the but cap. Remove all of the heatshrink by cutting a bit with a knife & tearing the rest off. Both heatshrink & but caps can be bought from good tackle shops & some bad ones.

Just modded my rod by putting a peg with a bell on onto the tip, classy!
 
Dont know if you can get an exact replacement butt plug off Shakespeare, but I lost the one from my Salt MX beach rod and I got a nice chunky rubber one from Veals for about £1.50 Much better than the original ones that come with the rod. They do 1" and a 7/8" diameter versions.
 
cheers for that. all this talk about butt plugs is getting a bit exciting though - I thought veal's was a tackle shop..?
 
have known a few lads cut a few inces off butt ,take your time and it should be alright. as one lad says hot water will take butt cap off and if not a walking stick end cap will do, 50p from most places that sell them
 
Will I not be able to just refit the original butt cap, or does it damage them taking them off? Also are they glued on or just tightly fitting? All this is helpful, thanks. I might actually do it.. even got a special hacksaw blade for carbon fibre.
 
Will I not be able to just refit the original butt cap, or does it damage them taking them off? Also are they glued on or just tightly fitting? All this is helpful, thanks. I might actually do it.. even got a special hacksaw blade for carbon fibre.

If it is the spongy typ the fits flush with the rod butt, like on the beach rod model, they just pull out. Or in my case it fell out on a beach somewhere,
 
modding your rod

modding your rod

i just carefuly sawed mine off then glued round the bottom ov butt toi stop it from cracking and splitting worked well for me;)
 
that's what I was thinking. not sure why the butt's so long on this rod, it's a spinning rod after all. going down to cornwall for a couple of weeks so I'll see if it continues to irritate me, take a hacksaw to it if it does.
 
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