Chris, I bought 3 12 foot Amourphous blanks of of the Tackle Box in Kent, these cost me ?375, rings cost ?11 per rod (Fujis), reel seat, ?7 per rod, full duplon handles, ?14 each, blue thread, about ?3 and epocy ?10. Thats around ?484 pounds in total. At that time, these rods were going for ?275 each from Daiwa. Thats ?825, therefore i saved ?450. Geeeez..I never realised that!
That is an extreme example though. What i like is the fact that I can have my full duplon or cork handle on a carp rod, I can have normal ringing instead of bloody long range crap that, when playing a fish, destroys the action. I can have my royal blue with silver tipped whippings and my name on the rod etc.
I think that if you are looking at the better quality blanks, then u do save money, but at the lower end, I reckon I break even, but I have a better looking rod made my my own hand.