If you can, and if you are building the rod, you might want to try it both ways before gluing on. At Grayrock this year, one of the rodbuilders spoke to the gathering about the impact that downlocking or uplocking reel seats can have on the way a rod behaves. Now again, the results are subjective, you might like it one way, another person may like it a different way, but the point is that the change in placement of the reel can have an effect on the way the rod feels/behaves/performs. He also mentioned a new product from REC, a combination reel seat that can seat a reel both upwards or downwards. In other words, if I understand this right, the reel seat will accept a reel in both directions, and you can switch from downlocking to uplocking at any time. I have personally never messed around with this concept of reel position, just put on the reelseat that I felt looked best or made the most sense, but a lot of the other builders at Grayrock seemed to warmly receive the new product from REC. Check it out if your interested.