rod building.

gentlemen,
    For those of you who are in to rod building I have a retorical question.  Have we (you and I ) gone over the top with trying to see how fancy we can make a rod? 
     I mention this because I just got finished with a rod I made for my grandson. And it has eveything on it he asked for; and it is a beauty in it's own right.  But the longer I looked at it the more my eye was drawn to the simple beauty of a fine piece of bamboo.  The straightness of the grain and the character imparted by the node swirls.  So I went high tech/Old School with one I am working on now.  I chose a fine blank and added a nice wooden reel seat with titanium fixtures, then I choose very good cork and started from there.  I used single foot guides so there wouldn't be a lot of wraps and then wrapped the things in metallic thread (that liked to break halfway through the wrap).  It is an experiment in taste.  I think some people will like the look and some will find it compromising.  And just for comparison I made a second tip with conventional guides and wraps.  (in the same material)
     The rod seems to have more of an airiness than a similiar rod and I was wondering if anybody else has gone down this path before and what the reactions to the rod were?
    Please don't ask for pictures:  I have dial-up and it would take all day IF I knew how to do it.  But I may have it at the "One Fly" and the Night Before.

Well I have a beautiful rod hand wrapped with color matched anodized guides and the whole bit. Way to heavy to fish with all day. My favorite rod is one that is light weight. When I learn how to do that I will try again.

Indsguiz when I started building rods I made them as fancy as I could 2 & 3 different colors on each guide & always a fancy butt wrap, then I found out I was killing the true action of the rod & making them way to heavy.
now I use one color of thread & most of the time single foot snake guides & no no no butt wrap. much lighter & faster action & I like the simple look.
just my 2 cents

When I was building for others, I'd do whatever they asked.  Normally it was single color wraps tipped with a contrast color on each end of every guide.  I don't use color preserver, and have only used it on one customer rod.  My own rods are even more simple.  One color wraps that either blend or lightly compliment the blank color.  I'll put tipping on the tip top wrap (sometimes I don't put a thread wrap on the tip, just a tipping wrap) and on the stripping guides.  Of course the wrap in front of the grip and the lonely wrap 4" or so in front of that get tipped.  That's about it for me.  I stick to chrome guides mostly, though I like gold on the right rod (dark maroon pac bay with candy apple wraps and old gold trim).  Reel seats are simple and grips are all cork.
 
Thanks,
Rick