I'm trying to find the spine on a Rainshadow 4 piece fly rod. I spined each section. I put the top two sections together and they spined together perfectly. I put the bottom two together and they are good too. I assembled the upper and lower section and spined the whole rod. Needless to say it didn't spine well then. So my question is do you rotate the bottom section till the upper section marks are where they're supposed to be or rotate the upper section? I'm thinking move the bottom section since most of the flex is in the upper part of the rod. Just wanting to make sure I do it right.....or at least close to right. ;)

Spine each piece individual, then assemble. Now locate the spine again and remark. The ferrule overlaps will change the spine effect by a few degrees. You'll be fishing with the rod assembled, so you'll want to go that route. But you do want to spine each section individually first, and then assemble. That puts you close to start with.

You could also disregard the spine and just locate the straightest axis on each section and assemble that way. Many builders and most commercial rod companies do things that way.

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So how exactly do you spine a whole rod? I've seen how to spine individual sections, but not a whole rod.... Is it done pretty much the same way or are there other tricks?

-- Cheers
-- James

The only difference between a section and a whole rod is that one is longer than the other. Nothing else is different. Do it the same way you do your sections.

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Tom.....I think I did it as you said. I spined each section then lined up each section to make up the rod. Then I spined the whole rod and made new marks for that spine. That's what I gathered from you instructions.

That's the way to do it. You're fine.

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Thanks for the help!