Since I've never used the bumper system before I have a question about how many guides to use on a 7' light action casting rod using alconite concept guides. I was thinking of using a BLNAG 12 for the stripper and then a BLNAG 10 for the second guide followed by 8 BLAG 6's with maybe a BLAG 7 thrown in if needed. The bumper will be a BLAG 6. This is based loosely on the FUJI concept guide placement chart. My question is this... Since the guides will now be on the bottom of the rod, do I not need as many since the line can no longer touch the blank with it being under the rod? I realize that I need to let static guide placement to ultimately determine how many I need, but it seems like I won't need as many as the "Concept" system calls for.

Thanks for the help!

The set-up of the bumper system was originally designed for ease of use and explanation, so builders were instructed to just set it up like a regular guides-on-top rod and then flip everything to the bottom with the exception of the butt guide. And that certainly works and works well. But you're correct, when you move the guides to the bottom of the rod, you can probably use a guide or two less now that you don't have to worry about the line contacting the blank under load.

Just do a static test under varying degrees of load and make sure you still have enough guides there to keep the line in a relatively close path or curve to that of the blank. I would think that on a rod of that length and power, a total of 8 guides plus the bumper and tip top would be sufficient. But I'm just guessing from prior experience. Try it out and see how it looks.

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Wow that was a quick reply Tom!! That's what I expected to hear, but I was hoping for some reasurrance from someone with more experience. Thanks!