I'm new at this hobbie. I'm about to build my first fly rod soon, and I have a couple of questions for the experienced builders. First, I'm a little confused with the location of the guides in relation to the spine for a fly rod. I've read a couple of books on rod building and they seem to differ in opinion about which side of the blank to locate the guides on. Any help on this would be appreciated. Also, what sizes of guides should I use? The rod I'm building is a 7'6" 4wt. And what type of tip top? Standard? Large loop?

Make sure you read the brief report on rod spine found in the FAQs page here on this site. There is no wrong or right location for the guides relative to the spine of your rod. The spine does not factor into casting accuracy nor rod stability.

There was a good discussion here on rod spine in the past week or so. You may wish to read over it to ease your mind.

[www.rodbuilding.org]



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Thanks Tom I found the discussion on spine in the phorum and I also read the FAQs. I found them very helpful actually. But I do need a little help selecting guides for my rod though. Again I would appreciate any advice.

i'm building a 7'-6" 4 weight, a forecast fly blank. what i typically do is select one of the sponsors over to the left side of this web site and outline to them what i am building. they have always been very helpful in selecting the sizes of guides i might need, offering advice or options.

i am going to use titanium coated single foot wire guides for my 7-6, with a standard sized tip top.

eric
fresno, ca.

Anglers workshop has guide sets they sell that are listed by rod length. It was very helpful on my 7'9 4 weight that I am starting. I use hopkins halloway. Nice looking chrome guides. Drop me a email if you need any help.

Allan

Since this is your first rod, I would not get myself into the Great Spine Debate and just locate the guides according to the rods straight line and forget all about spine. On a 7.5' 4 wgt, like Tom said, there is no right or wrong way in relation to spine. Build the rod to the straight line which will result in the most esthetically pleasing sight when you and your buddies, hold the rod, wiggle it and look down the rod, admiring your handiwork.

Where you put the guides in relationship to the spine will have no effect on the rods performance whatsoever.