I have committed to building a fly rod for @#$%& to raise money for a local conservation organization. I have learned much about this organization & they do what they say.
I consulted a very experienced local fly fisherman for rod recommendations. He also builds & repairs fly rods.

my idea is to use a Rodgeeks red/white/blue blank fitted with a red/white/blue foam core/graphite full wells style handle

I want to try using round guides. My questions are:
how many guides for a 7-1/2' fly rod
what size round guides from first stripper to tip guide?
comments I have seen on this site lead me to believe ceramic ring guides are slicker & give better distance
Minima 4 guides are at the top of my list, at least for now. Are these good guides for this application or should I use others.

suggestions & comments on guides & the handle appreciated.

The Minima 4 guides are a nice middle ground between snakes and ceramics. They're also very light for their size which is a plus on what I assume will be a light line fly rod.

...........

Rex:

See Tom K's article on fly rod guide sizing in the library. A link to the article is below:

[www.rodbuilding.org]

I'm a traditionalist to a fault; all my fly rods built with agate strippers for 5 weight and below and snake guides for all weights, so cannot help with sizing for ceramics other than to second Tom K's thoughts that when the line to leader and line to backing knots pass easily the guide is large enough.

because it is a light weight rod I would just use a stone stripping guide and follow that with rsn light duty Chrome Nickel Titanium Frame | Wire Ring snake style guides this will give you a well balanced rod as for the placement of the guides load test will tell you where the sweet spots are for the guides the minima 's are the same just bent in to a loop .
where the difference comes in is the single foot vs the snake dbl foot the action changes slightly because of the wrapping of each guide foot that is where the action is changed it is either softer with single or a touch firmer with the dbl foot and that directly related to the line control when casting

The best day to be alive is always tomorrow !!
Think out side the box when all else fails !!!
Wi.

Guide wear is seldom if ever an issue on fly rods, even on stripper guides. Snake guides are traditional, light, they look good, and they work. However, there is no accounting for taste. For a true "traditional" look you could use chrome rings dangling from keepers lashed to the rod blank.

Minimas are a good choice for the rod. With the choice of blank and grip, you are obviously not going for a traditionalist look, so go modern...single foot Minimas.