What are the cons w/ a 2-piece rod?

[Mike P]

Most of the prejudice against 2-piece rods stems from the day when they stuck a metal ferrule about midway up the rod. It created a huge "dead spot" there that affected both the action and the sensitivity of the rod. Most of today's 2-piece blanks have a "spigot" style, graphite to graphite ferrule, more towards the butt, in the beef of the rod. Blindfolded, a lot of people couldn't tell whether a rod of that style was 2-piece or 1-piece.

There are still negatives with 2-piece blanks. One, the ferrule can wear--sand can cause the "male" section to wear or the two pieces to jam together, and over time, the "female" section can crack due to the flex of the rod under a load. Also, when you have a fish on, the tip section can twist out of line with the butt and the reel, creating the same type of situation you'd have with a rod built off-spline. Other than space, the only other reason to buy one is if you're in love with the feel and action of a particular blank, and they only make it in 2-piece, like most of the Loomis and Breakaway models longer than 10'.

Mike at Cape Cod Tackle is building my first-ever custom 2-piece, on an Al Star (Breakaway) 1266/2 blank. I'm eager to see how this works out in actual fishing, as I love the action and light weight of that blank. If the negatives come up, like the tip twisting, I can always epoxy the two pieces together to make it a 1-piece.