Having talked with both sides of this issue, I think this should explain the confusion. I jumped to conclusions with my first post and was wrong. My deepest apologies.


The top grip is similar in size to what was made.


The middle grip is a plain old factory grip from Mudhole.


The bottom grip is what Thomas likes and was calling "factory." It is considerably smaller than anything any builder I know would call "factory" even though the rod came from St Croix with this grip.


There were two very different definitions of "factory" in play here. Thomas clearly got what he asked for but not what he thought he was asking for.