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Jgestar, no surprise, hit it. As a practical matter with rare exceptions, the answer is quite simple. A blank behaves as a stiffer rod when cut from either end--a feeling of power added, but loss of delicacy when cut from the tip; speed and loss of feel and control when cut from the butt. Casting tests before cutting are a good idea. It's easy to feel. If you've got a good 9' rod, grab it above the the handle and try to cast it. Or run the line out the last snake guide rather than the tip-top and try to cast it. The rod's feel will be dramatically changed for the worse.

So an even better, more practical idea, again harkening to Jgestar's point, but I will put it plainer: cutting a blank any significant amount ruins it. What is a significant amount? More than 1/4 inch off the tip--and I would never do that, and always consider a shortened tip rod (perhaps from a break) ruined, as they never feel right--and more than a reel seat's length off the butt, (no more than 1 inch, perhaps to accommodate a certain reel seat style, is a much better guideline). Another way to think of it would be no more than half a tip-top size increment of diameter/taper from either end, but why bother to think of it at all, when it is easy enough to get a blank of the type wanted.