Are there any alternatives to thread for guide attachment to the blank? Pros? Cons?

If there is, I never heard of them.

Mike

Many of the inexpensive retail rods, especially light action surf rods made overseas, appear to have the guides affixed with tape, with epoxy over that. Even some of the "fancy butt wraps" on these rods are just tape. It takes a rodbuilder (you and me) to know the difference, which can be subtle, though very apparent when you remove the guide for repair. Do they perform well? Well, I've fished some of these rods hard in the surf for five years, and have had no guide failures.

Years ago,I did a rewrap with monofilament and it worked out ok.This was before epoxy finishes were formulated and the norm. I got the idea from seeing a friend fish a Heddon(I think it was) that was wrapped with stainless steel wire. I think I have even seen a pic posted of a wrap or wraps that were done with flourocarbon mono.Very nice looking I might add.
The bottom line for me is,thread has been used for alot longer than I have been building.I get the colors and sizes that other materials can't give me. While I generally subscribe to the theory of "if it isn't broke"....
But new ideas,and the exchange of them,are what have taken this craft further than one could have only dreamed about just a few decades ago. And it is this site and others like it that have given us a way to do this very rapidly compared to the days before computers were so commonplace.Phone calls and letters with film pictures took so long to make it around,that progress wasn't very swift.Today we are very blessed to be able to learn,teach,and grow so fast. Thank you for this site Tom.And thank you for Rodmaker Magazine.
Happy New Year to all,
Chuck

I have seen but not used heat shrink tape and tubing. To me it looks like junk
Good Wra[s Bob

I tore down a Chinese built rod to refurbish it and when cutting the finish to expose the thread, there was no thread, just chips of some kind of plastic. They either used some kind of heat shrink or tape then applied finish over it. The guides were solid and required cutting, later scraping, to remove.

The rod had been fished hard with no problems. The owner wanted to try a spiral wrap and the blank had the 'right' action for him.

In my younger days, we fished with 'jetty' rods which took a beating from the rocks. The guides were affixed with black tape; first 'tire' tape which was probably asphalt saturated cloth, then the new plastic tapes that appeared after the war. The guides stayed put and were replaced only because of breakage.

In my spiral wraps, I wrap the guides with masking tape while making trial spacings and the tape stays put.

I'm not advocating the use of tape instead of thread. It even bothers me to see painted trim wraps. C2

I know guys use electrical tape for fix ps, and a few of my friends have extra ghetto rods with the guides held on with Tommy Tape. The Tommy Tape is that stuff which "melts" into itself - it's actually very stable adn holds the guides very, very well - as good as thread. No idea of how it holds up long term, but 2 seasons of fishing and the 2 guys' rods are still with the guides in place.

Dental floss with Hard as Nails for finish. Only two colors avalable that I know of. No need to worry about fisheyes in the finish!
Kenenth Prager