Jonezee, those are called intermediate wraps and int he early days of bamboo they were there to help support the rod during the fighting action with larger fish on. As you can see, they pretty much don't exist anymore in the rods of today due to changes in glues, processes etc. You can eliminate them but it will change the action of your rod. Some say the action change is very noticable, others say it is negligible. I have omitted them on a few old rods and could not tell any significant difference in the way the rod felt. a couple of those have caught quite a few fish over the years, without the intermediates, and they are timex for sure!!!