Yes col I spin my own rods too you know what your making and your making it for yourself for the way you want to fish and the rod blanks you want to fish with more importantly ,my mate always had gloomis and I fished with Berkley rods and this spinning rod always shot 10inches up the bank when we were bass fishing turned out it wasn't splined properly, now everything is built right for the style of fishing I'm doing with the right reel to match it, once you build a few it all gets easier and makes the fishing a lot more satisfying when you have a well balanced outfit that you trust.