Rod building can be a very fun and rewarding hobby. There are many examples of "art" quality rods being built by some great builders...and for your first rod....that ain't going to be you! Just keep it simple! Don't start ordering expensive blanks and components for your first build (sorry re-read some of this thread and I think I was a little late on that advice).

As with any type of new building project, there is a big learning curve. The videos and such make it look easy (and actually it is) but you will find that some of the stuff may not be as easy as it looks (like multi color thread wraps). It appears you already are committed to the blank and components so can't help you much there. But...the way I started was to find junk rods, tear them down and re-build them. Mainly just for the experience. Once you have done a couple of those, then you should be ready to start on some higher quality stuff. Also (again I guess I'm a bit too late) but for a first build I would go for a kit. They pretty much supply everything you need to complete your first build. All the components are already matched and ready for your build (some even come with reamers and other small things you may need to complete the build).

I have built several rods and would like to add the following to the advice given.
-mudholes kits are great, the components are of high quality, the rods perform well, and the prices are good.
-Be careful not to apply heat to the rod, i.e., when removing fuzzies from the windings etc...
-Use lots light and keep the winding snug
-Use a toothpick or dull needle to lay the first layers of rod finish (helps force bubbles out of the thread)
-Have fun!

I actually kind of inadvertently took that advice before you said it lol. My dad decided to build a spinning rod from a kit, so I think we're gonna finish that one first and then move on to the fly rod so we'll have at least some experience before moving on to the more expensive components with the fly rod. We also have a ton of old rods (spinning not fly) laying around so I may hack up a couple of those for practice also.

Even then It's looking like this might be the same as some of my other hobbies where I dive in head first instead of starting small haha, but I've done a lot of research and kind of tried to make sure there wasn't any big surprises in store as far as difficult steps. It's looking like the wraps will be the hardest part. Most of the epoxy stuff and reel seat work looks manageable since me and my dad both have experience building golf clubs and that seems somewhat similar (I hope. lol) My dad is great with hands on kinda stuff as well so I'll have him around to help since he usually thinks of little things that would never even cross my mind. Hopefully with a combo of all that the rod will at least turn out fishable. Either way it can't be as much work as my harebrained idea to build all the furniture for my house at college last year haha. I guess I've gotta have at least one project that could go terribly wrong a year just to keep things interesting. Im slowly getting packages of components here and there so I should have all the stuff to start by the end of the week. I'll keep everyone updated on my venture haha

don't do it; its habitual-p-

First night of building in the books, still missing some components so the grip was all I could finish. It took a couple hours to get it shaped the way I wanted and its still not perfect, but it came out much better than expected for my first attempt haha.

That's very nice for the first attempt.

Thanks for the update. Looking good