I'm building an 8' casting rod with the concept guides. This is the first time I've used these things. I've got the handle on and am trying to set the spacing on the guides. I keep testing the spacing by running the line through and bending just past 90 degrees. The end sectoin ( top third) needs many more guides than I think looks right. I'm going to end up with 12 guides plus the tip to keep the line from touching the blank under stress. Is this normal for these low guides or do you just let the line contact the blank? Thanks for any feedback, steve

You want to keep it off the blank. If it takes 12 guides, and it might with those low frame guides, then so be it. They are light enough that they should not undermine the performance of the blank too much, if really at all. Keep your wraps short and sweet. You don't want any more weight on there than need be. For what you are doing, 12 does not sound excessive on a rod of that length.

Also keep in mind that as you put more and more load on the blank, the tip area will flatten out and the 90 degree bend will transfer to the mid and butt sections. Load the rod by pulling on a line attached to the tip, not just by hand bending. That will give you a truer idea of how the blank will flex under heavy load.

The best thing you could do is to use a spiral wrap on that rod. The guides belong on the bottom of all rods, not just casting and spinning. You could use less guides probably, and the line cannot touch the blank, ever. You'd also gain 100% perfect stability under load - something you will never do with the guides on top. (And no, positioning the spine in one manner or the other will not stop rod twist if the guides are on top.)

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Tom, Which direction do you spiral your guides and why.

I spiral AWAY from the side the reel handle is on. Yes, I know this means that when the rod is laid on a boat deck the transition guides will be on bottom, but so far I have not been informed of any damage.

This may open up some new discussion and I have no proof other than what I have observed. But, as a right handed person who casts and reels with the dominant hand, I find that spiraling my guides to the left puts the line on a downward path almost immediately. I find that when I hold the rod, in my left hand, and reel with my right, I tend to cock the reel/rod to the left slightly. Thus the guides are spiralled in that direction.

If I did it the other way, the line path would actually travel back to the top and then around to the bottom (give that some thought and keep in mind how I said I was holding the rod).

Does it really make much difference? I seriously doubt it. You need to spiral the guides in such a way that it performs the way you want it to. If lying the rods on the boat deck is a problem, then spiral them to the same side as the reel handle. Ultimately the stability will the same regardless of which direction you spiral. The direction only seems to matter insofar as storage, etc., are concerned.

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Tom,

That means that the line spirals around and starts back up hill slightly? I am confused. You spiral the guides to end up on the bottom of the rod, but you hold the rod canted left, so the guides end up not quite on the lowest piont of gravity? You mean only during a cast? Not arguing, asking.

Bill Doherty

Bill,

The rod doesn't know which way I'm holding it or how I have spiraled it, so don't take too much to heart out of what I've said. Since I tend to cant the rod to the left when I fish, I spiral the guides that way. This puts the line heading downward right off the bat - at least from my perspective. If I spiraled to the right, then the line would be on top before going underneath. And again, this is only from the position in which I am holding the rod - in either case the line would travel the same distance and end up on the bottom of the rod.

Hope this makes sense. Nothing wrong with your question and as I said earlier this is nothing scientific, just the way I do it.

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Ah, but when the fight is on, the line is held underneath, where it wants to be. That's when it's most important.

I think there is some residual torque to the spiraling side when under load. Since I'm cranking with my right hand, I find that it's offset by the left spiraling guides and the minor bit of torque generated by a tugging fish. Casting wise, I don't think it makes a difference.