Building a 7' heavy casting rod. 3 piece Allstar blank. I have what looks like it will work. Comes out to 8 guides. Does that seem ;ike too many? What about "line pile" on the reel. Will generally use level wind reel. Is it okay to tip the first guide a little to the direction the line goes around? or does it need to be tipped a little the other way to keep the line in the center coming to the reel?. I have tried it and I really can't see that tipping the first guide to the right hurts much.

Underwraps: This blank is rated to 30 lb line, but it looks like a heavy bass blank. will underwraps be needed here? I tried the static test with light pressure with the guides just tied on with mono loops and it does not seem to put much pressure on the guides.

No underwraps needed. Tipping the first guide a little in the direction of spiral only causes line stacking on wide reels with lures that pull very hard. 8 guides seems about right to me. I've done several like this and they work great.

One method, and I've used it with good results, is to shift the first guide slightly away from the spiral, and also shift the first 180-degree guide away, so that an edge of the guide "forces" a 0 and 180 degree position at those points. Just a minor point, not crucial. And, I used nine guides plus tip-top for a 6'6" rod, and think that's about right.

Thanks guys. Gives me a little confidence that it won't be too messed up when I get done.