After talking with Don Morton and Billy40 about the spiral wrap butt guide placement I've come to the conclusion that when they say use four guides for the transition from top to bottom and place those guides before the bend in the rod that they mean before the bend of the particular action of that rod. Like, on a fast action casting rod you would put the transition guides before the bend of the upper 1/3 of the blank and then soforth and so on for moderate and slow actions. I'm asking this because the rod will bend through out and I wanna make sure I put the guides in the right place or at least in a good starting point for testing and to save some aggrivation. Any input will be helpful.

Thanks,
Steve

Steve you are somewhat right. The bend of the rod will dictate how fast you get around the rod. For example, a progressive taper that bends well toward the handle will need to have the guides move around the rod closer to the butt. You can tell the set-up point by placing the rod in a vertical position and bending the tip to a point that is 90 degrees to the vertical rod. Even with a rod that bends all the way to the handle, when you press the tip to 90 degrees it will only bend about half the way down. Keep in mind that you are looking for the point where the rod bend about 1/2 inch from the vertical as the start of the bend. This is where the set-up guide will go.

Once the set-up guide is in place, place the tip section guides on the rod with tape and run your line from the reel to the set-up guide and through the other guides to the tip and tie it off. Your spiral guides will go on the line from the set-up guide around the rod to the top of the rod (where the reel is). Keep in mind that you want to place the guides where the line will run as straight as possible from the reel to the set-up guide. The article by Ralph O'quinn in the Rod Maker Magazine, Ralph uses the tip section of a rod to get the guides lined up to keep the line running straight.

A very fast tip rod may need one or more guides at the 180 degree position as the set-up gides will be closer to the tip. If you are still having problems with the set-up email me or call and I will send you a more detailed explanation and/or try to explain on the phone

Hang in there, it will work out, Don

Thanks Don! I'm sure I'll be contacting you again.

Thanks for helping me out,
Steve