I did a bit of research before doing my first to see what people’s take on it was and based on the information I read, it is supposed to be a simple task.
It’s not! It’s actually a very time consuming and imo complicated task if you are to get it right.
Now that is the fundamental difference between every match rod I’ve ever come across with a spliced tip and the couple I’ve done myself.
The requirement is to simply take a solid carbon tip, put it into the back of a blank cut tip section
View attachment 31475and pull it through the front till the tapers lock up tight. Like so
View attachment 31476
Easy yes. Well no
There’s lots to consider.
First if your carbon tip has a diameter at the back of 3.5mm you need to know where that 3.5mm diameter is inside your blank before you cut it and you need to cut it so that the 3.5mm diameter is around 50mm behind the place you cut so that there is enough tip section taper locked up against your blank wall.
You also need the tapers to match so be prepared to modify the back of the tip to suit.
You also need the final length of the section to match the other 2 which doesn’t work if your tip is 3.5mm at 600mm but your rod section only needs 500 to come off for the same diameter.
Never cut the fine end of the tip section down to suit the length. That defeats the entire object of the spliced tip. All modifications to the tip section (length, diameter and taper) must be done at the back end only
You also need to think about guide placement. You want your spliced joint to be positioned exactly where a guide and whipping will be placed or it’s not right imo.
It should be impossible to tell to an untrained eye that this is a spliced tip rod like so
View attachment 31477
After all that you need to ensure the action matches. The spliced tip should bend very easily at the tip and progressively bend and bend as more pressure is applied and this bend should perfectly blend into the bend of the hollow section showing no evidence of a flat spot or hinge point. Like so
View attachment 31478
The difference between taking these steps and doing it right or slamming any old tip in any old section is absolutely night and day and I’ve never used a splice tip rod anywhere near as good as the ones I’ve spliced myself but it comes at a cost.
5 tips I went through before settling on the right one for my rod and even then I had to change both the length and taper angle because that wasn’t quite perfect out the tube.
It’s worth doing if you really love the rod.