If the Bill Colby that wrote the new spiral wrap article in Rodmaker is the same William Colby who posts here I just want to say congratulations. I got my new issue on Monday and dove into your take on the Bumper spiral system.

I build mostly steelhead and salmon rods and use the spiral wrap almost exclusively. I had been using a 4 guide transition and although it works fine I'm always open to any new ideas on the system. Yesterday I took a blank and rigged it up like you said and did away with all the transition guides and just put that one 'bumper' guide on there to keep the line off the blank. It's too simple to work or so I thought.

After some test casting and loading last night and this morning I'm starting to think you have come upon the best spiral wrap system in existance. Maybe not entirely new but the set up and method is one I haven't seen before and is so simple I think you could teach a 4 year old to do it. This could be the system that replaces all the others. Good job and thanks for sharing it!

The biggest difference is that on most spiral wrap systems, any guides not on either the 0 or 180 degree axis tend to redirect the line. This is okay and it works, but the idea was that if the line wasn't redirected and simply passed by the blank on one side, you'd have a simple and effective spiral wrap method that would be extremely easy to not only set up, but to explain.

I made many rods like this over the years but the line would rub the side of the blank (didn't seem to hurt performance any) and eventually rub the finish to a dull or flat sheen. With enough use it could do worse. So the idea was arrived at to just put something there to keep the line off the blank, but not to redirect or transition the line in any way. I tried a "patch" of Permagloss but it rubbed off in time. Finally it was decided to just use a very small and very low framed guide.

Someone (I forget who) told me that the system needed a name to set it apart from other spiral systems. Bill was working with the idea and building and selling rods with it and had asked about writing an article. I passed on the idea of naming it and he came up with the "Bumper" guide spiral system. I'd have to say that's pretty much all that guide is - a "bumper" to keep the line off the blank. It doesn't do anything else nor does it factor into the guide spacing in any way.

Bill can fill you in on his own experiences with it. He's probably built more of these than anyone else at this point. I do think that you're going to find that anyone who tries this system, or those who have already been using something similar to it, will tell you it's works as well as any other spiral system and is much quicker and easier to set up.


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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/13/2005 05:28PM by Tom Kirkman.

I had visited Tom's shop last summer and he showed me some of these rods that had no transition guides. The line just went from the top to the bottom from a guide at 0 and another at 180 and the line path was actually pretty darn straight. It just skirted the rod on one side. We talked about it and he said that if the line rub proved to a be problem he would probably just add a guide at 90 degrees but make it small and low and just to keep the line off the blank. He explained that a guide added at 90 degrees but one that didn't factor into the rest of the guide spacing would never have any side load on it. Any pressure on it would just be directly into the blank. I couldn't really grasp it at the time but I went home and began playing with it.

What I found is that this guide which I call a bumper guide could be a low frame #4 if they made one that small and it would be perfect. As it was I had to use an 8 as the smallest thing I had. Even with the rod bent nearly double, the line did nothing but ride in the very bottom of the ring and press the guide into the blank. No side load and no chance of twisting or bending the guide in its wrap.

On very heavy duty rods or very moderate action rods that flex very deep into the butt area I have shifted the bumper guide to 10 degrees so that no side loads exist on it even when those rods are flexed to the max. On anything else 90 degrees seems to be the ticket.

The set up is simplicity itself and you don't have to know anything about setting a spiral wrap rod to do it. You just set up the rod as if you were doing a standard conventional casting rods with all the guides on top. Then you flip all except the butt guide to the bottom of the rod. Then go back and add a guide at 90 degrees directly halfway between the first two guides. Do NOT adjust the spacing of the other guides when you add the bumper guide.

What you find is that the line travels in a pretty darn straight path and goes directly from the reel to the underside of the rod with just a little bow to clear the bumper guide. The photo in the article shows a rod with a #10 bumper which is really too large but that was the only rod I had to take a photo of that day we did it. If you go with a #8 as I said in the article the line bows out even less. The rods done this way cast like a dream and offer all the advantages of the spiral wrap without any tricky transitions or spacings. If you know how to build a standard guides on top casting rod then you know how to build a spiral rod with the bumper guide system.

I think you mean "100 degrees?" At least I hope you do.


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Well I'll be (bleep)...that sounds so simple even I can do it, and very well described....Thank you......Now if I can just get these Forham locking wraps to work without all the swear words.......



Derek

It was one of the better articles I thought. Simple and straightforward. I plan to try it on my next spiral rod and won't be surprised if I end up adopting it as the only spiral wrap method I'll use from this point forward.