I see several posts about "banty rods and thought I'd share my experince. My wife's father gave me a South Bend 346 about 40 yrs ago and I fished with it a couple of times. It was a 8 1/2 marked HCH and I was fishing a 6 wt on it. Didn't like it much. Too heavy so I put it away. After reading about cut down rods on this forum and others, I decided to make it shorter. I hate things that you can't use and took the plunge.
Decided to use the two upper sections but it would have been about 5 1/2 feet. Too short for what I had in mind.
I've built a number of glass and graphite rods and still had a bunch of cork rings for making handles. I heated up the ferrule on the butt section, pulled it off and made it a part of the new handle. I put new guides on and refinished the bampoo. The reel seat is a piece of tiger maple that I turned with sliding rings that I bought from Rush River Rods.
Now I have a 3 pc 6 1/2 foot rod with two tips. Checked the weight using the Common Cents method and it was a 4 wt. Casts great, looks good and If I like, it can easily be restored to it's former length.