I am new to fly rod building and I am going to build a 9' 6wt 3pc fly rod and was wanting to use the single foot fly guides on it.
My question is this, is the guide spacing going to be the same for single foot ceramics as it is for snakes? Also, I'm guessing that the sizes would go something like 10 and 8 double foot, 7, 7, 7, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6 and tip top. Is this close???

Thanks

Jay

With those #s , it looks like you are using SF guides with incerts . Personaly I would use a 16 , then 12 or 10 strippers , then an 8 , a 7, and the rest 6's out ......... but that's me . Make sure to put a guide on the Female furrels , or at least as close as possible to help reduce the stress on the furrels when the rod is under a load . Hope this helps . Have fun , JHD

Got Fish ?

O.K. the sizes sound good, but is the spacing the same for the ceramics as it is on the snakes?
I've built spinning and casting rods, so I can get the spacing on those, but this is my first attempt at a fly rod and I want to try to get it right the first time.

Thanks again.

That spacing is only a starting place. The static test and the blank tell you where to place the guides. Check the Libarary page for the artical on the Concept System and Static Test And the Faq's page

The spacing should be the same regardless of guide type. I would go with your 10 and 8 double foot guides and 6's the rest of the way as the sevens don't add any value.

Stan Grace
Helena, MT
"Our best is none too good"

Excuse me while I wade in and muddy the waters further. On the 9 ft 6 wts I've built, I've used the following guides: 12, 10 (line tamer 4" in front of the stripper), 8, and then all 6's (I think) out through a size 6 tip top. The 12, 10 and 8 were double footed V-shaped guides, Fuji SVSG, while the others were Fuji Alconites. I think I didn't use any size 7 running guides, if I could jump 2 mm in the line taming set I think one could go from 8 to 6 without a problem. If I didn't use a line tamer guide, I'd probably go 12, 10 (both V-shaped), 8 (SF) 6s (SF) - I'd test cast before wrapping, to see if I liked the performance before investing too much time.

Yes spacing should be same for df and sf guides, I think - use the static guide placement method in the Library to get the best spacing.