Having built a bunch of spiral wrapped rods using the standard setup I figured with all the talk I would give the "Bumper" a shot. Well for anyone who hasnt tried it I would say its a must do!!!! Will be doing all my spiral wrapped rods this way in the future unless a customer prefers otherwise................
BTW........Rods are 6' 6" bass rods.....................I used a BLNAG 7 for my bumper guide and guides used on the rods were as follows BLAG 10, 10, 8, 7, 6, 6, 6, 6.
I may try using a BLAG 7 for my bumper next time..............

sorry for the double post!

As much as I've seen some people 'elsewhere' claim it's just a rehash of older methods it's really not. It is totally new and it works like all get out! I find it to be not only the best spiral wrap system but in the end it's probably the simplest as well. Just wonder why nobody thought of this one 30 years ago!!!

I started out wrapping rods with the bumper wrap after problems with guide spacing layout that required too many guides on the first rod I was making. It looks like I will not be doing a conventional wrap anytime soon. I'm on my 7th rod and I love the way they fish. I think they are easier to set up for guide spacing and I use fewer guides meaning better blank action.
I have been having great success with # 6 guides for the bumpers. The bumper does not have to be large, tiny usually works well.
Post a picture.

Russ...whats with the 6'6" stuff??lol. I wrapped a modified Calstar GF 850M last month for jigging the CC Canal. Wrapped the guides on "bumper" style with a 25 stripper, and #10 "bumper"....it cast fine (got me to where I needed to go) I lost 3? 4 oz bucktails, pulled on each stuck jig HARD...the bumper guide didn't move...

PS.... the bumper guide, and running guides were quickly mounted with Madeira......no finish, on a damp night......I tried to RIP the bumper guide out of place along with the others and every guide stayed true for me.

I learned alot about the bumper system and Madeira in one fell swoop....one night.

Pardon my inexperience ....... but I'm on the verge of rolling up my first bumper rod (the butt set up should be dry by the time I get home tonight). Anyway, it's a 6' rod rated 4-8lb and for use on my home waters for Australian Bass.

My question is, how many guides do I need to deliver the line to the underside of the blank ?? I have a bit of an idea, please someone correct me if the following is incorrect :-

Stripper on top of the blank, bumper at 90 degrees to the stripper, remainder on underside of blank (180 degrees to the stripper).

Am I heading in the right direction ?

BILL..... Yes, the KISS is best

Dave von Doehren
PRRODS......If man built it , man can fix it.and if man built it man can break it !

I'm sold! Use em on saltwater inshore and offshore rods to 60#!

I'm new to all this I have wraped 4-acid rods with the guides turning 180. C.C. I like the way they fish . What is the bumper set up? would this way be better? I've just startes the 5th rod. Would some one e-mail me with the information? Thanks for the help
Tight lines
Bill

Bill,

The answer is that you don't use any guides to deliver the line to the bottom of the bottom. None, Zero, Zip, Zilch.

Forget about the bumper guide. Put all your guides on top of the rod and space them just as you normally would. Get a nice static layout with good spacing. Now flip all the guides to the bottom of the rod, except for the first one (butt guide). That's it - you're done.

Now if you're concerned about the line rubbing the blank between the first two guides as it passed by on one side, install a small low frame guide at 90 degrees and exactly halfway between the first two. Do not alter the spacing or push the first two guides farther apart. Leave them just where they are and install the Bumper guide exactly halfway between them.

The Bumper does not transition the line nor direct it to the bottom of the rod. It only serves to keep the line off the blank as the line passes by the blank on its way to its natural position along the bottom of the rod.

Full details were in the Volume 8 #2 issue of RodMaker.

...........

Thanks Tom,

However, I thought one of the many reasons to go with a bumper style was to reduce the number of guides. If I were to place them as you have suggested then I'll be using the same number of guides, or did I miss something ?

No you did not. You may be able to tweak the number of guides one you place them on the bottom of the rod and redo your static test and drop perhaps one, but that would be about it. The instructions given are to make it simple to understand, not to mention that it also works very well that way.

The main thing is that you understand that the bumper guide is not part of the regular spacing, it's an addition to it. I find many guys who haven't read the article setting up single 90 degree transition spiral systems and thinking it's the same thing as the bumper wrap - it's not.


..........

Thanks Tom,

That clears things up.

And sorry for stealing this post Russ.

No problem Bill..................;-)

OK I don't have the artical. Missed that issue.

But Instead of starting with the guides on top of the blank, since the running guides are going to be on the bottom aka spinning fashion, why not just set them all up as a spinning rod and then just turn the butt guide up ?
This way ya have the least amount of guides on the runners cause it does take less guides to set up as a spin rod ? Then just add the bumper ?

Cast fashion there are always more guides to keep the line off the blank. Seems to me it would make things a little easyer ?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/14/2005 08:09AM by bill boettcher.

Read the article and all your questions will be answered.

...........

Don't have it But my common sence tells me it can be done that way. See no reason why not ??
I have a subscription but it lasped and I missed that issue



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/14/2005 08:29AM by bill boettcher.

Bill,

You can put the guides on in a 360 degree fashion, or make them all size 15's or put on 2 next to each other and then skip and do one each the rest of the way out. Or use blue guides near the butt and red ones near the tip, and it will probably work.

I'm not trying to be smart at your expense, but if you want to set things up per the Simple Spiral Bumper wrap, then you'd want to follow the instructions for doing it that way. If you want to set up something different, there's nothing wrong with that either. It won't be the Bumper wrap, but it would probably be something else and something that would work. Maybe as good or better. There are plenty of other systems out there and they also work. Pick one or come up with something that looks good to you.

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

I'm not trying to argue with you, but I can not understand why the guides " have " to be put on top of the blank, then turned down, and then retest and in that fashion you would possibly get rid of one or two ?
Seems that is an added step in making the system ?

And to say it is not the bumper system, just because it is not done "" exactly "" how you say it should be ??

A bumper guide is " still " placed in the same place, making it the system ?
What's the difference ?

I am not thinking of " looks " Ease of set up ? Less guides on the rod -- less weight -- better " performance. Is that not what it is all about ?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/14/2005 08:58AM by bill boettcher.

Bill,

When someone asks about the Simple Spiral Bumper Wrap, I'm going to give them the instructions for that system. And, part of that system lies in having a set of instructions that are easy to explain in simple text, without photos. Most people know how to set up a standard casting rod with guides on top. If they can do that, they can create the Simple Spiral Bumper Wrap with almost no change, other than flipping the guides to the bottom and then adding one back in between the first two. You cannot believe how much time this saves me each day when answering the two dozen people who ask how to "do a spiral wrap." Try to explain the common Roberts or Revolver, or O'Quinn wrap to someone in a message board post or email, in just a very short paragraph - you'll be in for several back and forth emails or even phone calls. When you have to do this a dozen or more times each day, a simple system, and one that works extremely well, is very much appreciated.

As I said, you can do things anyway that looks good to you. But when folks ask how to do the system that we've labled the Simple Spiral Bumper wrap, I'm going to give them the instructions for that system. If they want to change things afterwards, or do something different, that's up to them, or you.

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