I have thought long and hard about putting my name on a rod that I rebuild and discussed it on several forums concerning bamboo rods.
I, too, see both sides of the equation and will not debate which is right or wrong. My opinion is quite simply this. If I take a bamboo rod that was built a half century ago and rebuild it, the credits for the bamboo will always be to the original maker of that rod, when and where it can be determined. Sometimes that just isn't possible. But I also will put my name and the date that I rebuilt it on there so that there is no question in anyones mind that the rod was rebuilt and does not mislead anyone into believing that it is "vintage" original.
On the other hand, a restoration, where everything is put back like it was originally will not have my name on it, but it will be tagged with the date of the resto, my name, and sometimes my contact information so that a possible buyer may know exactly what was done to the rod.
If I am building a set of blanks from a rod maker such as AJ Thramer, Tim Zietac, or anyone for that matter, I will always contact that person and obtain their permission to put a credit on that rod to their work, along with the original makers taper identification, and my name as the builder of the rod. There is a very thin red line that exists with many makers on what you may and may not put on one of their sticks and it is advisable to seek their permission first.

With many of these old "production" rods that are out there, the Montagues, South Bends, H-I's etc., well those guys contributed just as much to the bamboo and fly fishing industry as did the Hiram Leonards, Paul Youngs, and Lyle Dickerson, but in a different way. The great names in bamboo appealed to a different clientele, to those that could afford them primarily. But the production rods, filled the void by allowing the every day working man like me the opportunity to fly fish and to do so with a tool that would do the job very nicely. I would never take away that valuable contribution that they have given to us all, and as one great rod maker in the Pacific North West put it, "it pays homage to those that gave us these great old rods when we put them back into service and they can once again be offering pleasure to its user".