Hi,

first I have to say that I've build some fly rods in the past on Sage and Loop blanks but I'm absolutely not an experienced rod builder. For guide placement I always used the placement recommendations of the companies my blanks were from. But what to do if a guide placement chart is not available and no expert can help?

I've read older threads to the topic of proper guide placement on fly rods and also the article about static guide placement. Static guide placement seems to be an easy way but I'm sure you need some experience to do the job with good success.

When I see that e.g. Loop has the same guide placement for their rods if it is for a fast action Green Line or a much slower Yellow Line I can't believe that the guide placement is always "perfect" on these rods. On the other hand I never felt a problem with guide placement when casting any Loop rod.

What happens with the casting abilities if the guide placement isn`t perfect? Ore is guide placement (the fine adjustment) maybe more of an optic question?

When I analyze the guide placement on the Loop rods I believe to discover mathematic coherences. On their 10' and 9'9'' 7wt rods for example the distance from tip top to the first snake is 11cm (4.33''). Then they extend the distance to the next ring respectively for about 2cm (0.79'') for the next 4 rings, about 3cm ('') for the next two rings and about 4cm (1.57''), 5cm (1.97''), 6cm (2.36'') for the last rings on the butt side. The distances between the guides are progressive increasing from tip to butt.

Do you think guide placement with a mathematical approach can be successful with good results (maybe checked by the static placement system)?

Stefan

Remember, no two blanks flex the same! That is why the static placement is so good. Start with maybe one more then the length of the rod, then just add or take away as needed. I put on light rods first from tip at 4 1/2" heavy maybe 5-5 1/2?? Then just add maybe 1/2" as you go down the rod Addjust with the test

The static method is going to be your best method for doing this - it only requires a bit of common cents, not a tremendous amount of exerience. Once you've done perhaps one or two this way you'll be comfortable with it.

You might also be interested in Rich Forhan's Equal Distance guide spacing system. Nothing could be easier, but you will likely end up with one or two more guides than you actually need this way.

Too many guides can rob you of rod efficiency, with at least some of your imparted energy being used to start and stop that extra weight. Too few can result in rod breakage due to stress between any pair of guides under load. But these are the extremes.

The factory spacing charts are good places to start and from there you can tweak the spacing, per static deflection tests, to get the very best system possible.

.........

Stefan. My only rule is to place a guide on every female ferrule. Then add enough guides to create a progressive increase between guides. Then static check to see if it all works and adjust accordingly. I probably use too many guides this way, but if the guides are light enough, I figure I am not losing a lot of performance for the casting I do.

Thanks for your help!
Maybe I'll try out the static guide placement in future.
Is it necessary to secure the ferrules with tape when static testing because they are not wrapped at this time?
Stefan