Ol' Bill,

Again, you are correct, however your terminology is faulty. The action of a rod is determined by where it initially significantly bends. It is an intrinsic property of the rod and cannot be changed by anything you might do.

By adding and distributing clay along that rod, as you suggest, you will change the frequency or feel of the rod. As you also noted, everything anyone might do to a rod (varnish, guides, line etc.) will change the frequency of the original rod blank. That is why a quantitative measure of frequency (such as measured by CCF) is such an important factor in describing any rod. Pretty soon the rod makers will have to address this feature or "lose face".