I always wonder how to be unique without becoming trivial, it's not as easy as it sounds. I want my rods to be unique but I also want them to look Payne and Leonard-like without being clones. You take a little from here, a little from there, a pinch of varnish and voila. I see rods with inlay in the reel seats and crowned feathered ferruled tabs and whale bone plugs but it does not suit my eye. Mortised wooden handles or rattan grips are cool but do they make sense? I don't know.

I saw a beautiful rod but the "flex coat lite" wraps freaked me out, this was from an established maker with above average finishing. Many people wouldn't notice but to my eye it was a disconnect, to others it was terrific.

It's safe to say many people have different tastes and there is no right way to build a rod but challenge yourself to be true to your style, to search out nuances that make a rod unique. I think the trick is a multitude of nuances that collectively give you a style, not one in your face adornment. Do we need wood spacers from south of the equator when we live in a country surrounded by trees? Who knows, I'll keep searching, asking, dissecting photographs like a forensic scientist and staring at as many rods as I can find. Like George Maurer liked to say, "Do you want to be a cook or a chef?"