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I did notice that sunburst looks like that. it kind of depends on how you treat it. on my color stick i did one wrap with
no color preserver and just spar. on the other i used olympic water based urothane as a color preserver and it is lighter. on the third one i used aero gloss as the color preserver and this is the lightest.

i have used orange and black jasper. you must color preserve it. it is not really orange at all but more brown. it does look nice on these blanks but the jaspers must be color preserved or they look awful.

your rod designs sound great and i would like to see the final result when done.

i get kind of schizo when i start on a rod and sometimes change schemes several times before i get what i want.

the red silk does look good on these. no color preserver. it looks like liquid ruby on them.

i did a 7 1/2 two piece with naples silk in chestnut. i first tied in my spirel wraps because i wanted to color preserve them. i then put in the main wraps and guides between the spirel wraps and used no color preserver. they went transparent and the spirel wraps were a lighter color of the same thread. very subtle. too damn much work! if i had put the main wrap in and tried to apply color preserver to just the spirel wraps the color preserver would have seeped into the main wrap and contaminated it and i would have been a mess. if i had tried to put the spirel wraps in after finishing the main wrap the spirel wrap might not have butted up tight against the main wrap. i doubt if i will go to that much trouble again.

oh, i did order my guides. will use chrome snake brand guides with a snake brand select agate type 4 stripper. i was going to use a mildrum stripper but what the heck. 5 years from now the 20.00 bill extra money won't mean diddly. it won't mean diddly next week. my 15 year old daughter can drain that 20.00 in a heart beat.

aaron, silk gives me the most trouble with color preserver. i tend to shy away from it. i have tried all kinds of things and its hit and miss. when i use silk i am usually looking for that
transparent look so don't color preserve it. now, i know that
some experienced rod makers, particularly the bamboo guys color preserve silk sucessfully. i just have had a hard time with it. the old time rod makers did it. some used things like orange shellack as a preserver. i have not tried that yet.

i have used aerogloss as a preserver. it is a lacquer. works well with nylon. needs about three coats. have not had as much success with it on silk. one thing you have to do is make sure the guide tunnels are filled and the edges are sealed as well. otherwise you will bet blotches where the finish seeps in.

i have seen references to both lacquer and shellack being used by the old timers as color preserver. not sure which was most prefered but lacquer is probably easier to find and to work with. aerogloss is used by model airplane builders to protect their paint jobs from fuel. it is pretty tough and also avialable at hobby shops. i baught mine at "hobby people".

have started wrapping the rod. finished the mid section and all the ferrul wraps. i don't have my cork yet so the butt is just sitting with the reel seat attached.i can't wrap the tip because i ran out of sunburst. i ahd use that spool before and i did not have enoght left i am not putting the stripper on the butt section. it is right on the mid/butt ferrul. the distance from the reel is fine.
i used the sunburst with a five wrap trim wrap of yellow and black jasper. followed by five wraps of sunburst. so the jasper trim wrap is like an inlay. it looks beautiful. the jasper is really a light green and not a yellow at all.it looks so good with the sunburst. i have one coat of aerogloss on it. i may not coat it with anything just more coats of aerogloss to protect the thread. it looks very smooth like bare uncoated thread and it is very pretty. the aerogloss is tough stuff and may be tough enough to protect the thread. three thin coats should do it.
i have trimmed the butt so that all sections are the same length with the small fixed fighting butt on the butt section. i took a risk and epoxied a plug in the butt from a scrap blank that extends about 1" further than where the cork check will be. that will stiffen the blank some under the handle. when i get the cork i will turn the handle. it will be a combination of burl and regular cork.

i was originally going to use metalic gold as tipping and inlays but i did not like the look. it was too bright.

###update##### with the reel seat epoxied in place and the tip guides temporarily attached with zip ties and the tip top firmly in place i was able to test cast in my front yard with a dual taper 5 cortland sylk. the rod cast effortlessly from 15 feet out to 45 feet (the limit of my front yard) no false casts. actually i could cast the 9' leader. the zip ties add some weight to the tip. when i wrap the tip guides the tip may be a little lighter, or maybe not with finish and all. this is a slow, smooth rod. it lays out the line with some delicacy. not sure if the butt plug i talked about above has any effect. it sure does not hurt it. i am going to be fishing this rod a lot. when it is done i will of course shoot a few pics and post them.