need some help got a friend who wants me to build a 5' 6" MH baitcaster rod and he wants 10 guides on it what will this do to the action? and if i build this. what size & type guides should i use ? any ideas why so many guides or is this the number of guides that would be used for the fuji concept system?

thanks R FLYNN

The action will not change regardless of how many guides you put on it. However, the more weight you add, the less efficient the rod will be. It will dampen more slowly, not cast as far and the overall balance may be a bit off. This is probably what you were referring to anyway.

When I was in the business, I often had customers ask me how many guides I was going to use on their rod. My answer was always the same - I will use the exact number that is required, no more, and no less.

On one hand more guides is better - having more of them will distribute stress over the blank more equally. On the other hand, less guides is better - fewer guides equals less weight which translate to better rod performance/efficiency.

Most of the time, the number of guides is a compromise. You need enough to properly distribute stress and yet not so many as to undermine rod efficiency. Luckily, the newer guides available today are so much lighter than ever before so we can get away with using maybe one or two more than we might have previously and still reduce overall weight to some extent.

The very best set-up in your case would likely be a spiral wrap. That would allow you to cut down on the number of guides and also use the smallest and lightest guides possible without any danger of the line contacting the blank under load. I can't tell you how many you would need without having the blank and reel here in my hands, but I do think 10 would be excessive, whether you use a spiral wrap or the more common guides-on-top scenario.

How much does your friend know about rod building? Is he/she just wanting 10 guides because of something he has heard or read? As the rod builder, you may wish to gently steer him to whatever number of guides would be the best overall for that particular rod.

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The only type of baitcasting rod that have so many guide I know of are the sea bream rods. By the way what weight are the rod and
what action are the blank. I do own a sea bream rod by Gamakatsu that is 5'6" but have a total of 19 guides. The spacing
between the tip and the first guide is 0.4 in. But the tip is 0.35mm in diameter. If you do intend to get rod like that, I really do not recommended you use new concept guides, they are way too heavy for this use. 0.15mm Titanium, or hard crome wire loop will be the only choice.

But if you are looking into an ordinary bait casting rod, 10 do sound excessive. My general rule is length in length of rod in feet plus one... That's said, your rod action, line, and fishing style have a lot more to do with then just how many. May be clue us on which blank, what reel, what line, and your fishing style, target speciman and place of fish so we can be of better assistance.

Good fishing (catching) <*)))))))><{

I have to agree with Dorge and Tom that 10 guides seems excessive. Even if you use the lower frame fly type single foots I think you could do it with about 7 or 8 tops! Ordinarily I think I use about 6 on a 5'6" casting rod with guides on the top.

Your friend may be reacting to something he read or was told by another fisherman. I'd try to steer him away from the 10 guide deal. If you build it and he doesn't like it, you will be the one he will blame. Well, probably anyway.

I have to agree with everyone else on this one, 10 is to many. I don't know how heavy of a rod your building for him, but I just finished a Loomis 662 which is a 5'6" and it needed 7 guides, the one I built earlier this year took 6 on the same blank. Let the blank tell you how many guides it wants when you test it.

Ron,
I've done 9 guides and the top on 7' spiral wrap worked out great for the particular application and cast like a dream using TiGold guides. More generally on conventional setup would be similar to what Dorge or Tom suggest. For a 6 ft. rod probably no more than seven should do, even with the concept system.

Just a note regarding some manufacturers of factory rods will advertise 10 guides as a selling point. I guess the more guides the better will justify their price, or something like that.
Although, I have seen a couple of baitcasters from factory with a 10 guide setup and cast just fine. Can't really remember the name brands, was fitted with an Abu tournament low profile reel. It's the exception rather than the rule IMHO.

A good suggestion for building someone a rod insisting on their recommendations ask for the reasons and if your lesser number guide custom rod is as good or better, than why bother with the extras. Explain that important tip guide spacing for the top is essential and the remainder will adequately support the blank which can be verified with stress distribution. As most rodbuilders would agree also that the butt guide distance to the reel seat should be within a suitable range for the length of rod. The guides in between are distributed for function and less weight using fewer guides makes sense. If you plan to use the high number of guiedes always consider the smallest you can get away with for weight reduction, most especially as you get nearer the tip.

Rich
Solyrich Custom Rods