SIP Project : DSR820S GLX Rebuild

[Cal]

Hope everyone is staying safe, healthy, and sane out there. Thought I'd share with you a project I undertook a day or two the shelter in place order came down in the SF Bay Area. I had this project in mind since I wrote this review back in 2018 (http://www.tackletour.com/reviewgloomis ... 0sglx.html), and finally decided to tackle it this Spring.

I ordered a wrapping station just prior to the Covid-19 situation but the lockdowns gave me more time to focus in and really play around with with what components I wanted to use. I was originally going to put a split reel seat on the stick for a minimal build but abandoned that idea when I discovered I'd have to build up on the blank for the reel seat to sit properly on the blank. Didn't trust my finishing skills on either side of those reel seat components, so I went with a more attractive, one piece solution instead. I also converted the guide train to an NRX guide train to see if the recoils have an affect on how the blank fishes. It'll be a while before I get to test it out.

I have a second reel seat ready to go for the other copy of this same rod I have, but I'm not sure I'm up for stripping that one down anymore. The most frustrating part of the whole experience was waiting for parts to arrive. Usual turn around time was one week, but the very last set of components I ordered (winding checks for either side of the reel seat) took two weeks! All that wait time just about sapped up my enthusiasm and energy for the project.

Original Handle/Reel Seat

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New Handle/Reel Seat

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Side by Sided

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[spencerinstl]

Turned out pretty good for a first time. Never did like all that cork in front of the locknut on the gloomis rods.

[domthewon]

Nice work! Thats a pretty interesting handle, and components. It definitely doesn't look like a GLX anymore. Since you have two of the same model instead of switching it up right away it would be cool to do a side by side first. Then you will be able to see how much of a difference your hard work made, and if it's worth it to convert your other one. I've heard that the recoil guides improve sensitivity compared to other guides on the market. I've never fished any except on my NRX's and have no idea if thats actually true. The new handle is a harder material and probably will provide better feedback than the cork also. Even though it was only your first time I bet your guide wraps are still cleaner than the stock rod from Loomis.

[Gone Phishin]

Looks great Cal. What reel(s) do you have in mind for this sleek stick?

[Cal]

Looks great Cal. What reel(s) do you have in mind for this sleek stick?

Exist, Stella, MgxTreme... or whichever flagship reel is next of course

[Cal]

Even though it was only your first time I bet your guide wraps are still cleaner than the stock rod from Loomis.

I converted another stick from a spinning rod to a triggerless BFS stick with spiral wrapped guides before I tackled this one, so the GLX wasn't my first. Still, my wraps are far from clean. Would have been better at this 10 years ago when I still had my eyesight

As I stated in the review, that stock reel seat was just too fat and bulky. I've fished this seat before on other rods I've reviewed, so i know it has a lot better feel. I'll likely tackle the other GLX stick I have in a couple of days too so I can put all this rod wrapping stuff away and be done with it for a while.

Not much else to do these days anyway!

[Jeffbro999]

Looks great! Wish GLoomis would start selling us some blanks so we don’t have to do this. Rebuilding NRX and Conquest gets old fast, but the performance gains are incredible! Agree with Dom, fish those rods side by side so you have a baseline to make comparisons.

[toddmc]

That should be a noticeable improvement. Rod building/re-building does get old in a hurry if you make many of your own lures, you own your own boat, and you like to keep your reels serviced. You need some TT padawans Cal!

[nvbroncrider]

Even though it was only your first time I bet your guide wraps are still cleaner than the stock rod from Loomis.

I converted another stick from a spinning rod to a triggerless BFS stick with spiral wrapped guides before I tackled this one, so the GLX wasn't my first. Still, my wraps are far from clean. Would have been better at this 10 years ago when I still had my eyesight

As I stated in the review, that stock reel seat was just too fat and bulky. I've fished this seat before on other rods I've reviewed, so i know it has a lot better feel. I'll likely tackle the other GLX stick I have in a couple of days too so I can put all this rod wrapping stuff away and be done with it for a while.

Not much else to do these days anyway!

You can do a lot of neat things with that TVS seat Cal. My favorite way to set that one up is to make it up locking with the backstop. Take a fore grip but it on the hidden thread cap and there you have a little 4" grip. That's how I built by DS rod for the Vanquish. Balances an 1/2" in front of reel seat with the reel installed.

Actually kinda surprised you have reviewed that reel. It's basically a light weight version of the Stella!

[Cal]

That should be a noticeable improvement. Rod building/re-building does get old in a hurry if you make many of your own lures, you own your own boat, and you like to keep your reels serviced. You need some TT padawans Cal!

Yeah... last year, I repainted some 22nd Century Nezuma rats with a white crackle using an underlying black and red scheme. I shared that on Instagram if you guys follow me there at all. Might have shared it on the TackleTour Instagram too, i forget.

Yes, the rebuilding got old fast. I ended up redoing the second rod too because I had all the parts and my work station was all set up. Now I can put everything away and not think about it for a while. My thread work on the second rebuild was terrible, but it's done. My eyes and patience just aren't what they used to be.

[Cal]

Actually kinda surprised you have reviewed that reel. It's basically a light weight version of the Stella!

I think you mean you're surprised I haven't reviewed the Vanquish. It's actually been in the rotation since late Fall last year and was on track for a writeup, along with the new Stradic, until the pandemic shut everything down.

[Cal]

Looks great! Wish GLoomis would start selling us some blanks so we don’t have to do this. Rebuilding NRX and Conquest gets old fast, but the performance gains are incredible! Agree with Dom, fish those rods side by side so you have a baseline to make comparisons.

Yes, it'd be nice of G.Loomis still sold blanks. Starting with a nice, fresh blank would be very rewarding because dealing with the mess that's left over from hacking up the reel seat is no fun. Maybe one day I'll re-explore this activity with a fresh, clean blank or two. I thought about building a swimbait stick early on with a blank from Phenix, but the wait to procure parts is just too long. It'd be different if I could walk into a store, check out the parts in person, mock up the handle to make sure I have everything I need, and walk out of the store ready to go.

This checking things out online, guessing at sizes, ordering parts, realizing I need something else, ordering again, waiting one or two weeks for parts to arrive - yeah, not for me.

[Tigerbass]

Great job, Cal. Looks sweet!! I’m with you on not liking an over abundance of cork (or EVA) on the foregrip. I really like to be able to put a finger on the blank.

[Cal]

Oye... I'm losing my mind. Just started a brand new thread on this in the custom rod section forgetting I had begun one previously I oughta give myself a warning ... had a strange sense of deja vu when I hit submit

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