The rod blank luckily fell into my lap as a friend of mine has had it sitting around since last year and finally decided not to build it. I jumped on the opportunity for the very reason you mention. From reading the comments of others who have ordered these blanks and seeing Kab's posts on the fiberglass forum, the blanks don't come around too often. I think Kab puts out two (maybe three) batches per year and he takes pre-orders about 2 or 3 months before delivery.