Hi again,

Today's a good day to read and post for me. 8^)

I'm building a 9' 4/5 fly rod using a Lamiglas Perigee blank. I really like the look and feel of ceramic guides. I intend to use Fuji SiC guides with a coated steel frame, but after reading the threads about Perigee blanks breaking at the top ferrule, do you think that those guides are safe to use? I could use titanium frame ceramic guides or good ol' snakes, but I'd rather not. The first are too expensive, the second don't perform as well. Will the thin-walled blank do okay or am I risking breaking it?

Guides would have nothing to do with rod breakage (unless you just use far too few and the stress between guides is more than the blank can handle).

If a rod does break, you can recover the guides for use on a replacement blank. I see no reason not to use them.

...........

I have a Dan Craft SigV 9'0" 5 weight headed to the finishing room now and it's got ceramics on it...wouldn't use anything else! These are quite thin-walled blanks as well and I haven't had any problems with this rod's predecessors...

Jim,
I think a set of AmTack Titaniums would be in the same price range as your Fuji SiC guides.

Definitely use the ceramics, either the SICs or the Titanium SICs, on that Perigree. I have Titanium SICs on my Perigrees, and I've been extremely happy with the blank and the guides. I've not busted a Perigree blank yet, and I fish them pretty hard. As Tom mentioned, breaking a blank usually has nothing to do with guides. If you smooth the guide feet (i.e. no sharp edges to cut into the blank) and use proper stress distribution, there's no way the guides can break a blank.

Thanks for all the advice. I'll keep the SiC guides that I have already wrapped, but haven't yet finished. BTW, I notice that coated guides have very smooth feet, so I like that for safety and appearance.

Jim,

Coated guides (and all others) definately need to be prperly prepped no matter what the company states! They should be ground/filed down before using.

Mike