Allan received the blank and kit on Thursday Friday evening Allan came over and we assembled the reel seat and reamed the cork to fit the blank.Pretty straight forward concept...Measure everything 2 times and double check everything .. no problems.Decided I wanted gold accent wraps so now I am just practicing wrapping on an old arrow waiting for the thread to come ... messed around using gold tinsel as inlay wraps and accents.I didn't think it turned out to bad.I am pretty sure with Allan Podells help this rod is going to be great start to a new addiction ... Oh did I mention that I ordered a rod turning kit with drying motor tapered reamers and line finisher all the bells and whistles...early x-mas present .