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Hey guys!

I need some help getting serious with rod building. I've previously built two kit rods that were pretty standard, but now I want to choose all the components myself and get the rod just like I want it. I'll mainly use the rod when fishing for Zander and Trout in rivers. I usually drop shot for Zander which is also what the rod will be used for the most, so I'll need a rod that is light, has a sensitive tip and also a nice backbone when setting those hooks. The tackle I'm using is usually around 15-25 g, but it would be nice to have a bit headroom to be able to use lures around 30 g aswell.

So far I've managed to pick out two blanks that seem to meet my criteria:

Matagi TR86 Super Seabass M (8-28 g)
Batson XST 1025 (10-35 g)

Both are pretty similar when it comes to specs and they're right up my alley length wise and also very light. I was thinking I'd team the blank up with the following:

Reel seat: Fuji SKS Skeleton II
Guides: Fuji KLAG (16 mm)
Fuji KLAG H (10 mm)
Fuji KTAG (8, 7, 6, 5, 5, 5, 5 mm)
Top guide: Not sure about this one, preferably as light as possible 5-ish mm.
Grip: Some form of EVA split grip, still to be determined.

I'm not quite sure about the guides (size and number of them) yet, but I want to keep the weight down as much as possible with this build. What do you think about my plans so far? Any feedback is welcome (preferably in english) since I want to avoid making too many mistakes with my first serious build.

Cheers

welcome here saftig!
let me advise you to build your guide train along the KR concept, it's the best there is without question.
that would give you 16/10/5.5 for the reduction, then a tunnel of either 5, 4.5 or even 4s depending on the (real) diameter of the line you use, type of leader and type of knots. the idea is to chose the smaller that will accommodate your line.

top guide should follow the tunnel, but can be .5 wider too.