I love this rod! Like others have said, I had to sand down the butt end connections, the tip end connection was OK. When I received the package, the box was mashed and mangled and made me worry that the rod was broke, but upon opening and checking the rod from end to end, was OK. There could be some peanuts or scrap paper packed in around the rod to protect it in shipment. For those that don't know what peanuts I'm referring to is Styrofoam  pieces. Very good price and product seems to be made to last of good quality and would recommend to anyone that  is in the market for this type of rod.