A glorious, good day to all.
While admittedly partial to Fuji products in general, guides in particular, I wanted to experience the difference of the Minimas on an ultralite rod I am building and purchased a set of ZV reduction guides with F runners. I appreciate many aspects of the sloped ring of the Fuji KLs and KLHs, even if the claimed 30* is actually closer to 20*. Have any of you attempted to reform the legs/rings of the Minimas to produce a slope similar to the Fuji counterparts and if so, what were the results.
Advanced thanks and gratitude to enlighten me.

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

just bend the foot and the ring will be tilted

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

While very comfortable with actually tweaking the legs to produce a sloped ring, I am more concerned with the RESULTS experienced by those who may have tried so in the past. Please remember I am a newbie and simply wondering if there is inherently something with Minimas which would not accept an angled ring properly.

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

Bending a ring over will not achieve the tangle free performance I assume you are looking for. You will simply be fishing through a bent guide. Kigan and Seaguide guides are bent over and tout tangle free performance. Compare one to a K-Series and you will immediately see the difference. K-Series guides are not about "bending over", they are about constantly moving line forward and off the frame without reducing the ring shape into an oval that restricts flow. There are at least 4 or 5 design tweaks in a K-Series guide that you cannot find anywhere else - patented.

The slope of the frame is the important aspect. Simply bending the junction of the ring to frame may not provide this.

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

As both Jim and Tom state the slope of the ring in a Fuji KR guide is only part of the engineering involved in achieving tangle free performance. The design of the frame in relation to the ring is also very important for shedding line loops. Even if you were to bend the ring of the ZV guides slightly forward without damaging it, the frame design is not even close to that of a KR guide. If you want to try a Minima guide that is closer to a KR guide go with the M frame rather than the ZV frame for the reduction guides. The ring of the M guides has a forward slope to it that follows the angle of the frame itself, thus has a more tangle free design than the ZV guides. The ZV frame does slope forward but the ring angle does not follow the angle of the frame. The Fuji KL-H guides (a KR guide) remind me of souped up match guides, due to the high frame small ring design. However, even though the the slope of the frame and ring of an M guide is similar to a KL-H guide, the KL-H guide has additional tweaks in its design that make them distinctive. Using Minima guides does give you a lighter weight option to ceramic ringed guides, but if you want it to closer mimic a KR set up use the Minima M guides without any modifications. If you want to use the ZV guides then use them in a NGC set up without midification, either one will work fine for your ultralight rods.
Norm

Jim, Tom and Norman,
Thank you so much for your qualified replies. I will leave the set of Minimas purchased unaltered. While I still consider Fuji to be my go-to guides, my newbieness is anxious to experience and learn from any possible difference. Even though I am a firm believer of “Form Follows Function”, I am looking for a more traditional (guide) look for this UL vintage Conolon blank. The Minimas will be hard-pressed to impress me more than the Fuji offerings.
By the way (especially directed to Jim) why does Fuji NOT offer non-ceramic- ringed guides?

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

Here is page 28 of our catalog. It details the combination of features that add up to the overall tangle free function of the K-series frame. When I see frames that "lean" forward and claim to be tangle free I wonder why in the world Fuji spent 3 years and untold dollars to make all the changes they made to develop a new frame series if those changes were unnecessary to achieve tangle free performance without sacrificing castability. Most of the time when K-Series is lumped in with the "leaners" we remain on the sidelines, but from time-to-time it seems appropriate to re-address the differences.

[www.rodbuilding.org]

The slope in the KL guide is why I use them as strippers on fly rods. The angle is appropriate to the position of the casting hand and where else are you more likely to encounter tangles than fly fishing.

I agree with everyone that Fuji K guides are very well engineered and do perform as advertised, and for most rods I build they are my go to guides. However, for light rods the Minima guides work extremely well due to their lightness which gives a light rod a very light and responsive feel In my opinion both the Fuji KL-H and Minima M guides used in a reduction train are super in function to the more traditional guide styles.
Norm