Taking a whirl at Fuji concept guides system on a 7 ft flipping stick. (Bait caster). I have used the fly type alconite guides for the last 5 guides. Under stress the line runs very close to the blank. Is this normal or do I need more guides? I have a total of 9 as is.

I did just about the same thing. I used ten guides on a 6'6 G-USA blank. Here's the guides I used: BLNAG12J, BLNAG10J ,BUNAG8J , BUNAG7J, BLAG7J, BLAG7J and BLAG6J (4 ea). May sound like overkill but the line is an equall distance from the blank till the stripper guides and it doesn't touch anywhere. You may want to consider the spiral wrap. I just finished a bass rod the conventional way and then started another rod with the spiral wrap. The spiral wrap out casted the conventional rod by about 20-30 feet. Check into it. Do a search of the archives to find some info on "spiral wrap".

Good luck,
Steve

I agree with Steve, give the spiral wrap a try and you won't have to worry about the line touching the rod and I find it cast much better. The spiral wrap will also stabilize your rod. The rod will not twist and the reel will jump up on the top of your rod when you start to reel or put any pressure on the rod.

Steve and Don have pointed you in the right direction - the spiral wrap for baitcasting Flip stiks. 9 Alconite guides are excellent. Take a look at some of the back issues of RodMaker for some ideas on the spiral wrap.

I build a LOT of 7 1/2 and 8 ft flip stiks for tournament competitors and this is one area where the spiral wrap cannot be approached by eyes up rods. A spiral wrap on a Flip stik gives the angler instant control of the fish and stability - not a big deal - unless flipiin'/ pitchin' is a big deal to the angler. I use 9 guides and a tip guide on both the 7 1/2 and 8 ft rods as well as 7 ft rods. The long rods collapse into the handle and determine where the first guide will go - unless you use a left crank reel and hold the rod in your right hand. In this case, I use a Power Guide (Fuji BYAG 16J) placed 7-8 inches above the reel eye and used to keep the line away from the handles on each Flip sequence.

If I managed to confuse you about the Power Guide - email me for more info. I've been flippin' since 1975 (learned from Dee Thomas) and building Revolver Rods for Flippin' , etc. since 1996.

If you do intend to build it conventional, having the line very close to the blank is OK, close is not touching the blank.

If you do build conventional, at least the line and guides are closer in relationship to the beam therefore reducing torque on the blank. But for optimum performance go spiral or as I prefer Revolver style.

Hey Rich, glad to see you made it over to the board.