Hey all. A friend of mine has asked me to replace the bottom 2 guides of 3 of his St Croix Musky Rods with tungsten carbide boat guides (CSBG-18 & CSBG-16). The guides will be used with 50-100# braid for mostly trolling large musky baits. Will these guides hold up to the braid or will they groove over time? The rest of the guides will remain the factory installed ones. The reason he's replacing the bottom ones is due to the rings popping out on him. He's had them replaced a couple of times now and continues to have the same issue after a couple of seasons. I've read quite a few articles on this site, which indicate that it's likely caused by abuse but I'm not too interested in lecturing him on that one. I've explained to him that these guides will add considerable weight to the rods and likely would be overkill for this application, but he has his mind made up on the guides. The only thing I'm not sure about is if they hold up to braid...........

Thank You - Shawn Weisenbeck

yes they will hold up just fine but he will void any factory warranty that comes with the rod because it has been altered from factory spec

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

If you used an unbraced guide like the one you mentioned I doubt St. Croix would care, I imagine how something is repaired is more important than what it's repaired with if it doesn't put an additional stress on the blank.

well Spencer are as sure about their warranty as I am they are very specific and pickuni about their product and any alterations of them .
A customer removed the decal and they wouldn't honor the warranty doing a guide would for sure void the warranty on a factory rod a custom built on a blank has different warranty specifics

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

Shouldn't have any problems with braids as the guides are used for wireline trolling. With boat rods I'm not so worried about the build being excessively heavy, especially since they are all back on the rod where weight change is less obvious and blank durability is at it's best.
Best commercial practices is a great saying that has helped explain warranties from many companies, including St. Croix, when it came to builds, or repairs. Do the repair correctly, doing nothing that would overstress, or damage the rod and they have been very accomodating in my experience.

Tungsten carbide should really be used ONLY for wire line. It is extremely hard, but also brittle. TC rings can shatter unlike their steel ringed HCG-style equivalents, and they have no steel frame to add protection like a ceramic would. They're also the least slick of all common ring types and will put more wear on braid or mono faster.

-The Batson TEAM
BatsonEnterprises.com

Thank you all for your time and thoughts. Any suggestions on what would be a good alternative to these guides to be used for trolling for muskies keeping in mind durability has been a big issue for this fisherman?

From the Batson line up the XN or even HXN Alps frames would be the ticket. The rings won't groove EVER, and the frames are heavy enough to take a beating. I can't remember the last time we warrantied a guide due to a ring coming out.

-The Batson TEAM
BatsonEnterprises.com

I suspect the guide durability issues you mention are the result of events occurring while the rod is not trolling for muskies - or any other fish.