Hello:

This is my first time posting on this board. I've been hanging around for a few days reading random posts and have picked up tons of great info.

The truth is, that I've yet to build my first rod or even to purchase my first piece of equipment. Currently all I'm doing is visiting boards, reading books, and watching videos in hopes of learning enough to make me feel comfortable when I get my feet wet for the first time.

Anyway,... this board has been very helpfull (if anyone knows of any more please let me know). It's great finding pros and experieced builders willing to share tips and offer advice to beginners like myself.

Now down to business, I've seen lots of info on the size and placement of butt guides, and how to determine the placement of the rest of the guides. But I haven't seen much (anything for that matter) on determining the size of the rest of the guides and the tip top. On some of my factory rods (baitcasting) they get progressively smaller and on some they are mostly the same, some have a larger tip top, some a smaller tip top.

If any one could help me with this it would be greatly apprieciated. For that matter any advice on getting started would be great.

Thanks for a great board and for some great people
Dave

Hi David. Welcome to the wonderful world of rod building. I'm a relative newbie myself, having started only last April. Like you, I also did a lot of research before I got started.

OK, now about guide sizes. I built mainly baitcastng rods. I've built two 7-footers and a 6'6" for specific techniques and lures. During my research, I found that many builders use Fuji guides, and I especially liked the Alconite guides -- lots of bang for your buck. I also decided to start with St. Croix blanks, mainly because of their fine reputation among bass fisherman. So I went to St. Croix's home page (http://www.stcroixrods.com) and checked out the blanks I was interested in. My first rod was built on an Avid 3C68MXF blank. Anyway, on the blank page of their web site, they have recommended guide sets, which happened to be the "9FCAL" set for the blank I was building. I then went to their guide page and check out this guide set. It consists of nine (9) Alconite New Concept Series guides of the following sizes: 12-10-8-7-7-6-6-6-6. I have used these guides, plus a #6 tiptop on every rod Ive built so far. I've found them to be extremely light weight and not overly expensive. The entire set plus the tiptop (sold separately) costs less than $20. They also cast very smoothly. I just bought another set to build my next rod specifically for throwing small, light weight crankbaits.

My BIGGEST question when I was first starting out was "How do I space the guides?" I purchased Dale Clemens' book "Advanced Custom Rod Building" before I built my first rod. He has a table showing how to figure APPROXIMATE locations for your guides. I used this formula, temporarily placed the guides in these locations, and did a stress test. I found that I had to move a couple of the guides because of the extra fast tip of the blank I was using, but at least it gave me a ballpark location to start from.

I'm sure I'll probably be burned in effigy on this board for posting this kind of heresy. That's OK, because I'm a big guy and it'll take a pretty flame to set me on fire.

Check out the many suppliers and you'll find the best prices and service. I've bought most of my supplies and blanks for Karen at Bingham Enterprises (link at left). They have excellent prices, and they are less than 200 miles from my house, so shipping time is reduced.

Hope you get lots more helpful information on this thread. There are some very knowledgable floks on this board. Good luck on your new avocation -- you'll find that rod building is fun and very addictive.

Jim

David,
Also, I welcome you into the world or rodbuilding.
And Jim, don't worry about how someone will think about your methods to determine guide spacing. We have to start somewhere, and as in the beginning various charts are available to get some guidlelines. I often refer to the charts from the St. Croix blank catalogue, and also have referred to past suppliers who made their own ideas about spacing into a chart form.

As you progress, you'll get a better feel about placement and tweaking through doing stress distributions and the angles which you feel are the best arrangement for optimal line flow and providing support for the blank at the best locations. Also spacing is relative to which method you prefer to use, such as concept (using the smallest guides possible toward the tip) and the number of guides you feel is necessary. This takes some time in experience and if you are with the first rod project, by all means go to a chart for some guidance and evaluate the numbers and distances between guides to get an overall judgement about what it means for line handling, blank support, and stability upon load.

In regards to the particular brand or type of guides to use, much is a matter for individual preference or what might be called for in a particular blank (light weight? , corrosion resistance, etc.). Perhaps a suggestion is to go with a cone of flight method with evenly downsized guides starting at the butt with a number recommended by the chart. This will at least give you the experience in winding and providing a baseline for any future rodbuilding for improvement.

Some rodbuilders will never be satisfied with the last rod, and only the next one will be 'better'. For the moment, don't get too caught up with things like concept, alconite, high frame, j-ring and all the rest of the particular name brand descriptions. The important thing is to have a matching guide set with the right size requirements to match the blank. From this point you will gain knowledge over time about the particulars of the direction you wish to grow. There is lots of choices out there in components, but the fundamentals of techniques are fairly universal and with varying skill levels.

Ask questions and I suggest a subscription to RodMaker magazine for informative reading about some of these concepts relating to spacing and choice of guide sizes and types. Check out a few of the suppliers for what is available in videos and books on the subject. We'll also be happy to help out by contacting Richard's Rod & Reel for reading or viewing material as well as blanks and components.

Happy Rodbuilding and you've chosen an excellent forum for receiving and providing input.

Rich
www.rodreel.com

I recommend you take a class. Alot of fly shops off er rod building. I bet other specialty fishing shops offer them , too. SKip Morris's Book is a good start for rod placement .