I'm building my first fly rod and have a couple questions. First of all the blank is an American Tackle Matrix Mod-Fast 9 weight which is 9 feet long. I need to know how many guides you recommend using and the distance from the reel seat to the stripper guide. Also if someone has guide spacing for a similar rod that I could as a template. Thanks in advance.

Scott

I'd try the guide spacing charts at the St Croix site, in the rodbuilding section. That should get you started than finish as per the article on static guide placement in the library above.

Ditto what Spencer said. St Croix spacing is a great starting point. There are other charts you can find on other sites, but they all are close to the same +/- an inch or 2. Find one you like, tape them in place and cast a bit to see how you like it.

As far as spacing the stripper, this is an opportunity to personalize the rod to the angler. Have the angler hold the rod in his/her rod hand and in the position most often used for stripping, then have them reach to the blank with their line hand and mark ~2" behind where their line hand touches.