The big thing you give up on a basic off the shelf rod is the reel seat placement. You might save $20 on the prebuilts. For $20 , I want to specify my reel seat placement and have all the guides adjusted to it.
If you want special guides or seats , you probably won't find one off the shelf. For that you need to find a builder.
No prebulit rod should ever be called custom , it simply is not custom. perhaps they could be called high quality prebuilt rods. At the shows , CMS usdually has the most prebuilt rods. Mike T from M+D has some prebuilts in his shop. I don't think he brings many to the show.
If I wanted to save money , i would ask for a plain , truly custom built rod. Much better to have the reel seat and guide placement correct and have no decorative wrap than to have a nice wrap and save the money by buying a non custom , prebuilt rod.
The one thing that a whole wrack of prebuilt rods does is allow someone who doesn't really know what they want to feel a bunch of rods. This is a big advantage for those who have no idea what they really want.
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