Until about 3 months ago I hadn't built a rod since fiberglass was state of the art.Since then I have built 7 or 8 and rewrapped 5 or 6 of my own rods. One of my rewraps was an older rod that I have fished for years a 7' medium action fiberglass composit factory rod. It needed new guides anyway. After reading about spiral wraps and viewing a bunch of pics here I wrapped with one guide on a ninety degree to the traditional butt guide and then to the underneath of the rod. As you hold the rod the offset guide is on the left. My question finally is after veiwing a number of pics with the guide(fist offset) on the right and using 2 guides to make the transition to the underneath of the rod is there some reason to take the line to the right and shoule you use more than 1 guide to make the transition. I have cast the one I just finished and it seems to be fine. I think I could really like this spiral wrap thing. Haven't fished it yet though. thanks in advance for all the info I know I will soon be recieving.

There are different ways to do this. The Bumper wrap doesn't use any guides to make the transition. The O'Quinn might use 5 or 6 guides to make the transition. They all work, but some work better than others in particular situations.

As far as which side to carry the line to, most bass fishermen like the line to move to the same side of the rod as their reel handle. This allows them to lie the rod flat on the boat deck. Fishermen (right handed fishermen) using heavy offshore gear like the line to move to the left for non-levelwind reels. This helps them spool the line back on the reel easier as the back of the thumb doesn't have as much strength and the line just naturally moves to that side easier.



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

I might just add to Tom's comments that I use both the "Revolver" method and the "O'Quinn" method when building bass rods. The Revolver method offsets the first guide in the opposite direction of the spiral...then gets to bottom in 4 guides. As an example, if I'm spiraling the guides to the right, the first guide is offset to the left. I align the right side of the insert with the center of the blank...so the line comes directly to the center of the reel. I then place the 4th guide on the bottom. Rich's alignment calls for that guide to be offset just past the center of the bottom of the blank. You are accomplishing the same thing as you did on top of the blank...bringing the line directly down the center of the remaining guides. You could say that the first guide is aligned at -5 degrees and the 4th guide is at 185 degrees...with the remaining guides at 180 degrees. Make sense? I "eyeball" the #2 & #3 guides, so there is a smooth transition. The advantage of this wrap is that there is less tendency for the line to stack on one side of the spool when using moving baits with continuous tension, such as crankbaits, spinnerbaits, or swimbaits.

The O'Quinn method gets to bottom in 3 guides with the first guide placed at about 40 degrees and the 3rd guide on bottom. Eyeball #2. This works well with loose line techniques such as flipping.

I have not used the bumper method as the two above have served me well. Enjoy your spiral wrap. I've spiraled all my personal bass rods for several years and I wouldn't have them any other way.

Good luck.........George