But a spliced tip doesn't give you a faster action. The tip is purposely made so as to fold and stop line breakages, that's the whole point of a spliced tip.
I remember JWilson describing the differences between the waggler and the spliced tip rods and he said (it's actually printed in several of his books) even all that time ago that with rod manufacturers now being able to replicate the action of a spliced tip section using hollow tips your best to buy a hollow tip rod/waggler rod, and that the hollow tipped waggler rod is far less likely to have the tip break when long trotting, where a powerful sweeping strike is necessary in order to pick up line and drive the hook home.
I know your idea of a waggler rod has a softer mid section to aid in casting, but there are waggler rods with fast/stiffer mid sections also, and those rods have a soft slim tip designed to do exactly the same thing as a splice.
I've no idea if browning do a hollow tip rod in the same line of rod, if so how does that compare to your spliced.
That's what you and John Wilson think, I disagree. I've never been interested in really light lines and pissy little stick floats. I want a spliced tip rod for the action. Besides, it wasn't exactly unheard of for John Wilson to talk complete cobblers occasionally. Frankly, I don't care what John Wilson thought, no matter how much he believed it, or how many times he put it in print. Lets face it, as far as I'm concerned, he put his name to some of the most over rated junk I've ever laid hands on!
:wh
Yes, you can get spliced tip rods that don't have a fast action. The spliced tip canal rods I've encountered certainly don't have a fast action, quite the opposite, but they really are designed for light line fishing. I'm not particularly convinced that the older Daiwa spliced tip rods were especially fast actioned, mine certainly isn't, but that's down to the way they are designed and made. However, they are definitely faster actioned than their contemporary "waggler" designated stable mates. Most of them were made at the time when many matchmen would have been obsessed with using lines of no more than a pound and a half, but you never had to go that light due to the rods. They are quite capable of handling much stronger lines.
Personally, I've never encountered this mythical hollow tipped rod that can perfectly replicate the action of a spliced tip rod. I've encountered the odd one that makes a decent stab at it, but, as a trade off, most are that bit more powerful than is ideal for me. I've been through loads of such hollow tipped fast actioned rods, including the Acolytes, but none of them have quite replicated the action of a spliced tip rod. Some are better than others, but, bar the Acolyte Ultra, they've all been that little bit too powerful further down the blank. The Acolytes are definitely the closest, but still not quite there. The Acolytes fast action is precisely why I consider them to be river rods, and don't tend to use them for stillwater waggler work. As for the Tournament RS, there's a reason that I've never bought one. It's because I thought that they were the epitomy of halfway house, jack of all trades. Neither nowt nor sommat. Plus, they aren't anything special in the weight department. No doubt that will make them absolutely perfect for some people though, good luck to them.
However, your suggestion of a spliced tip being more likely to break with a sweeping strike might be true, but it misses the point entirely. I use a spliced tip rod so that I don't need to use a sweeping strike. I don't want to have to use a sweeping strike, I want to be able to strike with a flicked roll of the wrist. The right spliced tip rod allows me to do this without it being too stiff further down the blank. That's precisely why I still value a good spliced tip rod. It's got nothing whatsoever to do with light lines. If I'm fishing a waggler, where a sweeping strike is the norm, I'll use a waggler rod.
Yes, Browning do a Sphere Waggler rod. Very nice it is too, but the action is quite different to the spliced tip river rods. It's progressive, but more through. It's exactly what I like in a waggler rod, just as the spliced tip river rods fit my idea of a trotting rod. Perhaps they are even the same blank, it's certainly possible, but a well done splice turns the rod into a different beast.
All I can suggest is that you ring Harrisons and/or Tri-Cast to ask why they both still have spliced tip rods in their ranges. If they insist that they can achieve the same actions with a hollow tip, fair enough. We'll all know it's just a big hoax. Maybe they'll just admit it's purely because some folks just prefer the idea of a spliced tip.
However, no matter what they say, I'll still not be giving up on my favoured spliced tip rods. Just as I doubt you'd give up on your true pins even if some authorities on pins told you there was no difference between them and a reel with ball bearings. I don't believe that there's anyone in the world that could shake your preference for a true pin. My preference for a spliced tip is no different, at least until they genuinely come up with a hollow tipped rod that really does replicate the action. As yet, I've seen plenty of folks suggest this rod or the other, but when I've tried them for myself, I've struggled to see what they have.