I am getting ready to build my first rod with the Fuji Concept guide arrangement. I have read the info on Fuji’s site, and got some guide spacing recommendations from Mudhole. I attached the guides with surgical tubing and they looked OK.

Then I got to thinking about something I read somewhere about spacing the first guides so the cone the line traces between the spool and the choke guide is the same size as the guide rings. The concept seems reasonable, but when I do that the bottom guide moves way up the blank toward the tip. I moved the guides and did some practice casts and the line traveled through the guides fine, with no slap or bunching.

I did this with all of the guides recommended for the more standard layout, which left me with an extra guide before the choke. The weather’s pretty crappy in Spokane right now so I’m waiting for warmer weather before I try it again without the extraneous guide.

Am I letting myself in for trouble by arranging the larger guides to conform to the cone from the reel to the choke guide? I am interested in any wisdom I can get on this board before I go beyond the point of no return. I ordered the Rodbuilder back-issues with the Concept guide articles. I don’t know if my questions will be answered there. How long does it usually take you to mail a back-issue, Tom?

Thanks,
Joe

Hi Joe,
I think what you are doing is moving the largest guide up the blank to the intersection point. The intersection point takes the smaller guide, and from that point on back to the foregrip, you place your guides, with a graduation small to large until you reach the area where you place the larger guide. Going back to the point of intersection to the tip to go the remainder of the smallest guides. Look at the picture again and try to see the guides, even though it is somewhat hard to see.
Sanford

The RodMaker issue has the BEST info on the Concept System. MUCH better than anything on Fuji's own site. I have gotten back issues in as little as a week.

You can't use recommended guides, instead you have to let the rod and line tell you which sizes you need. The last issue of RodMaker even had a nice tip where you lay the rod on a table and put the spool centerline in line with the table edge. The place were the blank runs off the table edge is the intersection point. Put your smallest guide there and more of them on out to the tip top of the same size. Back from the intersection point you will select and size your guides so that they reach from the blank and touch the table edge. This keeps the line on a straight path. That's really all there is to it.

Oh yes, the ring of the butt guide should be roughly 1/2 the diameter of the reel spool.

Back issues are usually mailed within 24 to 48 hours of the receipt of order.

The information in the Fuji literature and now on their site was what I originally used. I found it very disappointing, but we have to remember that it is an overview of the concept, not a strict guideline on what to use and how to use it. What you need to do is understand the concept and then you can implement it for your specific rod with excellent results.

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

Sanford, what I did was put a small guide at the intersection point(if my rusty trig was right) and positioned larger guides so when I rotated the bail, the line would trace the inside of the guide ring. Then I put my 7 and 6mm guides out to the tip.

The thing that concerns me is that the large guide (30mm Alconite) is quite far from the reel. It doesn't cause line slap or bunching at the guide, it just looks different than I am used to seeing.

I'm not averse to building a rod that doesn't look like a mass-production rod (it is custom after all), I just don't want to screw it up out of ignorance of some subtle detail.

Thanks,
Joe

William,

Which issue of the magazine had the guide alignment tip? It sounds like a nice approach.

My butt guide is a 30mm. I'll measure but I think that is a little larger than 1/2 the spool diameter. What is the downside to using a larger butt guide?

Thanks,
Joe

You are likely on the right track. However, you can slightly adjust that first guide closer to the reel if you truly feel it is too far from the feel face.

Yes, that does mean the line will angle up a bit more sharply than the spool does, but as long as the line travels straght from the butt guide on to the intersect guide, it really does not harm much of anything.

On some of the ones I have done, the line does not trace a ring around the first guide, but rather sits almost totally on the outside inner edge of the guide ring when the bail is rotated. Performance is great.

Lucky for us, fishing line is flexible and will bend or deflect a bit. Compromise is nearly always needed in some regard.

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

The Volume 5 Issue 1 RodMaker (out now) has the photo and quick set-up guide. Works remarkably well and takes maybe all of 2 mintues to set up. Test casting shows it to be just about "on the money" right out of the box.

Using a guide that is a bit too large should not really harm anything. I tend to go undersize a bit, but usually tell others to "round up" on the 1/2 size thing.

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

Here's the key to the butt guide placement for concpet spinning rods. You need to make sure your testing with the approximate lines size and style the rod will be built for. TEST TEST TEST. I've found that the heavier the line the closer it needs to be and visa versa. All the advice given above is good and correct to my experience. Just make sure you don't set up and test a rod for 8'lb line and then wonder why it cast and retrieves so bad with 14. Believe me I
learned the hard way! LOL

If you watch your line while you're testing & move guides to where the oscillations are almost completely eliminated by the time the line exits the second guide you'll be well on your way to getting optimum spacing of your butt guides. If you have a black light and flourescent line you will be amazed at the difference that the New Concept system makes compared to the "cone of flight" method in eliminating line oscillation and consequently in reducing wind resistance. The choke guide & the remaining guides will determine the fish fighting ability of the rod. The number and positioning of these must be determined through some sort of static deflection. See Don Morton's article on "equal angle spacing" in the previous issue of RM.

William and Tom mentioned that the butt guide ring should be 1/2 the size of the reel spool. Is that the "specified" size, or the actual inside diameter?

For example, my spinning reel spool diameter is 41mm. Is the preferred butt guide a size 20 guide, or whatever guide has an actual 21mm inside diameter?

Joe