When measuring my guides from the tip of a 4 piece 9' 5 wt., one of the single foot guides ends up about 3/4" from where the male ferrule stops entering the female portion. I have read here that some prefer a guide on the female ferrule, but is it a problem to have one 3/4" from the male end? Thanks.

i think that from the standpoint of looks it would be better to locate it on the female side and use the wrap as the reinforcement wrap of the female. a 3/4" adjustment in quide spacing is no big deal in my humble opinion. others may differ. either way i don't think its a structural problem but you will end up with two wraps close together if you leave it on the male side. that might look clunky.

I would also move it up and onto the female ferrule end. Shouldn't require much jostling of the other guides.

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Thanks guys, I will move it to the female ferrule and adjust the others towards the tip.

I also have a problem with a guide ending up about 1/2" past where I want a ferrule wrap to end. If I extend the ferrule wrap the 1/2" to get to the foot of the guide and then add the wraps to the guide foot I think this will look way to tacky/long. I believe I have read to never move a guide towards the butt of the rod, only towards the tip. Would it be a problem to just move the guide towards the butt so I can just include it on the ferrule wrap? Thanks again.

Gary,
The number and positioning of guides is primarily driven by the need to distribute the stress on the rod. The stress will roughly increase or decrease directly with the distance between the guides. For example, if you move a guide so that it increases the distance from 9 inches to 10 inches from the previous guide you will have only increased the stress by approximately 10%. That is a long winded way of saying, don't worry about 1/2 inch. It is very unlikely to have any significant negative impact.

Move the guide down onto the ferrule and adjust the others accordingly. A little longer ferrule & guide wrap is actually a good thing with a single foot guide as long as the total wrap is no more than about 1/3 longer than the wrap above it. A wrap exactly the "proper" length looks too short as the female ferrule drops down to the cojoined male. I tend to make ALL my single foot wraps about a 1/3 too long so that it looks just right on the ferrules. The longer wraps help "blend" the guides into the blank on the smaller tip section. Short feet and wraps make those tip guides look like footballs.

Guides should not be located on female tip over butt ferrules. Anglers tend to "use" the guide to loosen the ferrule to disassemble rod and thus the guide is most likely to be damaged over time.

Yes they do, but guides should still be located on ferrules whenever possible. The greatest amount of stress always occurs exactly halfway between any pair of guides. Therefore, having a guide directly on the ferrule reduces the stress on that joint.

I have built many rods where the ferrule fell directly between a pair of guides. This is acceptable and shouldn't cause any problems provided that you are using enough guides that the stress created between that pair won't be enough to damage the ferrule. I think that unless you are really using far too few guides, this isn't normally a problem, however.

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On about 9 of 10 rods that I build on 2 piece blanks, I'm able to get the guide on the female tip-over butt ferrule. I've never had to replace one of these guides in over 20 years of building except when it was smashed by stepping on it or whatever. Yes, anglers have used the guide to break down these rods even after I've asked them not too, but as yet, no problems with it.

Putter
Williston, ND

And... a forhan locking wrap would pretty much ensure they'll never be able to twist or turn the guide anyway. But it's at least worth a try to caution them about using any guide as a handle for dis-assembly of a rod. Even if the guide is several inches past the ferrule, many guys will just grab that one and attempt to use it that way.

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