I'm doing a 7' one piece bass spinning blank and I can't decide what to do. The blank has a slight curve near the tip. If I spine the rod, the curve is a little to the left near the tip. Would you go ahead and wrap the rod with the guides so the rod looks the straightest when sighting down it or would you go ahead and wrap it with the spine as the determining factor. I know Sage sends out a lot of their blanks with the alignment dots on the straightest plane. Please don't tell me to send it back. I don't think most people would even notice the curve but I've spent so much time looking down rod sections aligning guides that I seem to notice even the slightest bend.

Thanks for any help.

Ron

Since it's a spining rod I would definately go ahead and build on the straightest axis.

I am not the sage expert that some of these other guys are, but I like to line up the spline with the guides opposite for spinning rods and vice versa for casting. My reasoning is that the extra stiffness of the spine if it is off to one side would probably affect the accuracy of casting. I got that from the guy that got me started on rod building and the theory it makes sense(at least it does to me) at least if it is a pronounced spine.

The difference in stiffness from on spine to off, will vary, but I've yet to see it go more than .2 difference on the CCS scale. Spine does not affect casting accuracy. Having a crook or curve off at 90 degrees to the casting plane will. All these things must be tempered by the fact that most of us don't cast in one single plane all the time.

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From a guy who use to worry about spine/spline location and has since started aliging the guides relative to the straightness of the rod, I have to admit I have not been able to see, feel, measure any difference in the fighting or castability of any rod setup in that manner.

I say go for the straightness.

Regards......Doug@
TCRds

Even though I hate being wrong:-), this is some good info. It would be easier to not worry about the spine and just take the straighest path on the blank.