I have had the pleasure of these rods first hand, they where the heavy light combination, I have rods that are built on sportex blanks now that are 2.75 TC the ACS rods in low 3 TC where thinner and more sensitive then the 2.75 ones that I own <shrug> I think the Sportex blanks are IM-9 graphite to give you and idea of what I was comparing to. the ACS rod blanks are something else....the rods are AMAZING no speculation I have seen them, I certainly don’t think they where put together with spare parts