Recently I heard from a friend that Shimano makes their levelwind designs on the low-profile reels to reduce the sin wave (in terms of sin, cosin, tan, etc.) Does anyone know how much the spiral wrap affects or doesn't affect the sin wave n reels that have no reduction of this? Thanks!


Chia-Chien Goh

The size of the sine wave between the first guide and the reel is primarily a function of the amount of resistance that the line sees at the first guide, or how much friction there is at that point, because this is normally where the biggest change in line direction is, and also the velocity of the line. A reel that has the line coming off at about the same height as the first guide should certainly help reduce this resistance and as a result the size of the sine wave with either a conventional or spiral wrapped rod and a smaller sine wave naturally means less loss and smoother, longer casts.

If there is a straight line path between the reel and the tip of the rod so that the line is not forced to change direction the sine wave will be very small with a conventionally wrapped rod. The size of the sine wave will be somewhat more with a spiral wrapped rod because the line must change direction. How much is going to be determined by how the spiral wrap is configured or how much change in line direction there is. Where the sine wave occurs can also change. With a conventionally wrapped rod almost all of it will be between the first guide and the reel but with a spiral wrapped rod it will be where the biggest change in direction will be so there may also be some at the second or even the third guide depending upon how the guides are configured.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/2005 02:44PM by Emory Harry.

If you set your spiral rod up correctly, there is really no reason for the line to change direction. At most, it might deflect a quarter to a half inch to get by one side of the blank. In many cases the line will travel a path that overall is straighter than that of a conventional guides-on-top rod.


.........

Tom,
I do not agree especially with a reel that sits lower in the reel seat, like the new low profile reels, so that there is an almost straight line between the reel and the tip of the rod with a conentionally wrapped rod. But we have had this discussion before and it is probably not worth debating it again.

Goh - does it really matter? Using braided line, or even ligh tMono - how much of a difference can there possibly when casting one or the other? Teh amount of resistance one vs. the other isn't going to change anything, and if it does it's going to be very small. I woul;ndn't be surpised that with braid you could build teh rod in a 360 degree spiral (al the way around) and still get decent distance, lol.

I've been saying the same thing for several years. Line bends easily and unless you really make a great deviation in line course or direction, it's pretty much a wash.

Even with low profile reel seats and reels, and higher butt guides, most rods with guides on top do not allow a perfectly straight line to the tip top. At least no more than a good spiral does. Either way, what the line does between the reel and the butt guide has a lot to do with how well the builder places that first guide.

.............

I will sure agree with the last sentence.
Chia-Chien Goh's original question was how much the sine wave is influenced by a spiral wrap. I am not sure how to quantify this but the set up, mainly the size and position, of the first guide is going to have more affect than whether the rod is wrapped conventional or spiral.
To achieve the maximum distance and/or mimimum effort when casting the guides should be set up to mimumize the standing wave. The energy that is going into creating a standing wave is energy that is not going into the distance that the line and lure or bait will travel.

I 'd like to argue those points with you as well, but I can't - they're correct.

.........