For months now, we have been working on a new approach to setting up a perfect KR CONCEPT rod and we are very happy to announce that a totally new GPS designed specifically for KR CONCEPT rods has just gone online on our website. This new interface requires NO REEL MEASURING and asks only five simple fill-in-the-blank questions before generating the best KR Concept layout for the reel, line and blank you have chosen. Not only will this system give you the best KL-H group and spacing, it will also recommend the size and number of running guides and give you a choice of top guides. THE COMPLETE GUIDE TRAIN IS GENERATED FROM THE DATA YOU SUPPLY. It works on blanks from 5ft 6 in to 9 feet, providing stripper location, factoring in "Rapid Choke" and allowing you to choose a micro OR conventional build with larger running guides.

You can try it now on our site and it will soon be available as an app you can download to your phone or iPad. We have also added the embed code as a link so that our vendors can make the app fully functional within their site. As soon as the vendors add this code you can generate your build sheet and order the complete guide train at a single source!

This has been a long and sometimes difficult path and we consider this a "beta" version of the software. We will continue to work on any reported bugs but we are confident in the performance of the app at this time.

If you have been overwhelmed by the amount of information in this new concept or stayed away for any reason, we urge you to give this new app a try. Most of those who struggled through the initial glut of information to build KR Concept rods agree that it is the most important thing to happen to spinning and casting rod performance since the New Guide Concept almost 20 years ago. Now, ANYONE CAN DO IT!!

Thanks Jim for sharing the information. I thought it was easy before, but this is silly easy now.

Silly easy is exactly what we were looking for.

need a web site I don't seem to be able to find it thanks Bill

William Sidney
AK

anglersresource.net, second banner down, GPS for KR Concept.

I had some trouble at first ,but it is there.

Good idea but is more work to be done before generating the best KR Concept layout for the reel, line and blank you have chosen. In my opinion you should put the upsweep back into equation because just the reel size class it's not enough (Different producers have different upsweeps for the same reel size and that will produce different choke points in the same size. ) Besides that, different producers have different spool diameters which in the bigger sizes (3000-5000) combined with heavy lines (20-30 braid) will require a bigger striper (25H instead of 20 H ) in order to cast well. Again, just my opinion.
In conclusion, keep up the good work but try a little bit harder .

kingofbeasts custom rods

Ps. Do not forget the KB-s

kingofbeasts custom rods



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2015 06:57PM by carol staiculescu.

Carol: If you are a good "reel measurer" you may want to stay on the same track. The problem with many was a slight error in measurement and/or not knowing anything beyond the size of the reel that would "probably" be mounted on the rod. With the new approach, many more builders will be able to produce excellent layouts with LESS information. Does it generalize? Yes, to a certain extent. Could you improve the results with more precise information? Perhaps. Is it pretty dang good the way it is? Absolutely.

By the way, the new GPS WILL suggest a 25 stripper with a large reel and heavy braid or mono.

Jim,

I like the new direction towards simplification.

I would encourage however that Fuji give builders the option to choose between the new simplified method or the previous method where we provide the measurements. It shouldn't be too difficult to accommodate both ways in an app should it?

I think there's value to being able to enter your own measurements. It gives builders an opportunity to more richly explore "what if" scenarios. I feel like I'm losing something with the change.

Reel upsweep isn't really a factor insofar as actual casting in concerned. Choke point is best located by reel spool diameter and line type. Remember, line isn't "shot" off the reel spool, it's pulled off. So upsweep plays little to no role. It was used early on as a locator for the choke guide for convenience only.

............

Post deleted



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2015 04:38PM by John E Powell.

Actually no. Again, the line isn't shot off the spool. It's not a gun barrel - It's not being guided by the spool's upsweep. The instant the line leaves the spool upsweep has ceased to be a factor, and really never was to begin with. A few degrees up or down on the spool do not matter. The line is pulled off the face of the spool.

Spool diameter is the important criteria when figuring the choke point. That's why the 27X method used spool diameter instead of upsweep to figure choker guide location.

...................

I also disagree the zero importance of the upsweep theory . It is a matter of simple physics which says that (regardless of the fact that the line is pulled or pushed) the steeper the angle between the line and the guide or the line an the lip of the reel spool is the more friction you will get. More friction equal less casting distance . So, because practice makes perfect with 40 lb braid on 3000 Daiwa reel (keeping same blank , same line same lure, basically same everything) just by moving the stripper 5 cm up and down the blank the difference in casting length was up to 8 m (out of 42-46 usual) . With thiner lines the difference was smaller usual 2 to 4 meters with 10-20 lb braid.
The thing with the upsweep is that, if move the stripper up to the tip of the rod from it's ideal position, you will get more friction on the spool lip (on the inside part , the one that's facing the blank) and if you move the stripper down the blank to the reel seat , you will create a steeper angle on that first guide and also more friction on it.
Since I don't own a testing lab, I won't ask you to take for granted what I'm saying , so I suggest you to try it for your self.
In fact there is a simple test everyone can do to see the friction impact on the casting length: pull some line from your reel like a fish would do on a fight and then tighten the brake a little bit an do it again. A reel brake is based on friction, the higher the friction the harder it is to make the spool to turn around . During casting the same phenomenon will appear : the higher the friction the shorter you will cast .
Besides the casting length another phenomenon can occur when the stripper is closer to the reel than it should: birds nests . This will happen especially on heavy lines because they hit the guide frame instead of passing trough it and create a wave effect which is more visible as the line is heavier.

kingofbeasts custom rods



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2015 12:29PM by carol staiculescu.

Measured Reel KR Concept remains unchanged on the original GPS site. We will leave it there for those who prefer to measure reels.

Jim Ising Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Carol: If you are a good "reel measurer" you may
> want to stay on the same track. The problem with
> many was a slight error in measurement and/or not
> knowing anything beyond the size of the reel that
> would "probably" be mounted on the rod. With the
> new approach, many more builders will be able to
> produce excellent layouts with LESS information.
> Does it generalize? Yes, to a certain extent.
> Could you improve the results with more precise
> information? Perhaps. Is it pretty dang good the
> way it is? Absolutely.
>
> By the way, the new GPS WILL suggest a 25 stripper
> with a large reel and heavy braid or mono.

I have done some testing to the new tool and I've had good results in some situations and not so good if not bad in other. Usually on the bigger reels case is where problems occurs. Besides a stripper to small sometimes the system recommends fewer running guides than it should (that is the reason for which I was talking about the KB in my first message here on this topic ) . Since is a beta version you have time to perfect the tool which I consider to be a good one overall and a great idea since It is addressing to the beginners who want to try the KR Concept.
The only reason for my intervention here was that , you , as a Fuji representative , are a trend-setter so, many people take for granted everything you say or do if it is correct or not. After that, informed clients come to builders and ask for explanations if the builder did not mounted the rod the way they (the clients) saw on the Fuji website. The main remark I often hear is "do you think you'r smarter than Fuji engineers?" It will take me a bit of extra work to show on the field what I offer and what he saw on your site and asked for so he can make it's own conclusion . That usually works with the clients who are coming to the shop but if I have to demonstrate something over the phone or over the Internet I will lose allot of hours just for that.
So when you say today that, the upsweep is important, the spool diameter is important, the line type and thickness is important , the blank power is important in building a KR concept rod and tomorrow you create a tool which will take none of those in consideration or it takes them arbitrary and in a small percentage, I would say that somewhere is a problem.
The thing is that if I don't do that, with each bad mounted rod on KR concept system, someone will loose pleasure to fish and KR concept will loose ground in favor of other guides systems (which usually are just not as good as this is).
So please don't take my comments as bad intentions because it's not like that , I'm just trying to show you the errors I found when I find them to help you build a better tool (please remember that I am not an English native speaker and some things I'm saying may be rougher than I intend them to be).

kingofbeasts custom rods



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2015 12:22PM by carol staiculescu.

Post deleted



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2015 04:39PM by John E Powell.

Your KB comments are being added to the app. THANKS!

Boiling the HUGE volume of information that comes to us from Fuji into a simple method anyone can use is an almost impossible task. The variables are infinite, and we always urge builders to work out the final details on their own. If you happen to be a beginner and don't even know yet what you're striving for, this system will give you a very nice rod right "out of the box". I doubt we will ever strike the perfect balance, but we are always striving to interpret and convey the nuggets of what we get from Fuji. In this case we were able to take the basic premise of the latest "concept" and apply a few formulas to cover a wide number of scenarios. We "if, then-ed" our way to a solid, simple, hopefully helpful way of applying the KR Concept and automated it. And by the way, it works regardless of your opinion of upsweep.

Carol, the next time someone asks if you are smarter than the Fuji engineers, say yes. Fuji can provide an airtight case for the things they do and produce beautiful products to satisfy those parameters; but they cannot sit down with you and your customer and determine the absolute best execution of the concept on A PARTICULAR rod. That's your job as a custom rod builder.

If you're a beginner, you now have the resources to build a great KR Concept rod. If you're a seasoned pro you now have the resources to jump immediately to a very good layout and apply your magic from there. We hope it's a win win for every rod builder.

There are no steep upsweep or downsweep angles on spinning reels. You guys are creating a creature than does not exist. I'm dealing in the real world where practical application is what matters. What I've given you here isn't a theory.

The guides determine where the line goes and at what angle, not the reel spool.

If you'll take some time to really, really think on this some more, I think you'll change your mind.

....................

Jim, Thanks for the time and energy spent creating a tool that helps keep things simple. This tool and the 27X process are both wonderful.
Of course if some people don't agree with the concepts, they are free to do what they feel works best for them.

John Shear
Chippewa Falls, WI