Right now, the spacing on a shikari PMB 703 is something around 4-4-4-5-5-5-6-7-8 (still tweeking a bit since the line rubs between a couple of the 5" space guides when they are on top, trying for a "equal distance" type spacing but might to work), but the real question is with guides size 12 for the butt, 8 for the bumper, 8 for the first 180 guide, the line will not touch the first 180 ring when the rod is loaded. Tried 8 to 10 inches for the spacing between the first 180 and the butt guide. Any ideas?

It won't be a problem I don't think. If you load it enough it will hit the first 180 guide at some point. Or you can even make the second 180 guide a size 10 and that sometimes get the line on all the rest even under moderate load.

That's what happen to me when i posted the bumper spiral question few days ago... I'm glad someone face the same problem as mine!
Which one is better, increase the distance between the bottom guide and the first 180 degrees guide or... use a bigger guide on the second 180 degrees guide than the first one?

The first spirals I ever did were based on a 0 - 60 -120 - 180 transition set up. The first 180 guide was an 8 and the next was a 10 then back to 8's the rest of the way. I did it for just this reason. However, it may not really be necessary. If you put enough load on the rod that first 180 guide will come into play eventually. You're also down into an area of the rod that is quite beefy comparitively, and therefore can withstand a bit more stress than could an unsupported area further up near the tip.

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I'm really surprised to hear this. I just ran my lines out on the two bumper spirals I have here and the line hits and loads the first 180 guide pretty quickly. I wonder if this is some kind of anomoly that might only happen with certain blanks? I'm running a #12 butt guide and the second guide is my 180 and it's a 10. The rest are 7's from there to the tip. Even a slight load will put the line against the ring of the 10.

The distance between my 0 and 180 guides is about 10" if that makes any difference.

I've done 6 of the "Bumpers" to date. For the most part on 7' Mag Bass - Med Hvy type blanks - For what it is worth the butt and 180 seem to end up between 10 and 12 inches apart......

Do you think a high frame butt guide would help (I only have the fuji alconite concept guides right now)? I was thinking this might change the angle at which the line wants to go through the bumper guide and result in the the line being lower in the first 180 guide, or would the opposite happen and it would just hold the line higher yet in the first 180 guide?

A higher frame guide might do the trick, but as you mention, it could also work in reverse. Not every rod will be the same so some minor tweaking of things like this can help.

Take what you have now and put a pretty good load on it - really flex it well into the mid section. Does the line still not touch that first 180 degree guide?


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