Question: For baitcasting rods why are we placing the guides in a conventional manner and then rotating them around 180 degrees. Wouldn't it be better to place the guides in a spinning rod style and rotate the first one 180 degrees? Generally when I place the guides in a spinning rod fashion I end up with at least one less guide and therefore less weight added to the blank. Comments, suggestions please.

The process was written about that way because I get about 25 to 30 emails a week asking for instructions on how to set up a spiral wrap. Most of these guys already know how to set up a standard guides on top baitcasting or conventional rod so I wrote the instructions so that they wouldn't have to learn anything new. Easy for them to do - easy for me to explain in quick fashion.

There are many ways you can do this, but if you go the route you're talking about, be careful not to set those first two guides apart by more than about 9 to 11 inches. This is pretty standard on most casting type rods. Then, the bumper guide goes in-between those two.

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

Leon - I have wondered that same thing. Thanks for asking. -Cliff Hall+++

Tom - Thanks for that revelation & pragmatic approach. There's only so much you & Colby can do in explaining the Bumper System [RMM-8(2)], and expediency has to have its place. And there's only so much "custom question- answering" one man can do about custom rod-building in general. Thanks again for this important clarification. -Cliff Hall+++

"The SIMPLE SPIRAL WRAP: The BUMPER SYSTEM"
Author: William "Bill" Colby [RMM-8(2)]
RodMaker Magazine Volume-8, Issue #2, pages 16-17
Back issues ($7 each) available at www.rodmakermagazine.com

The 2 photographs and the 2 illustrations tell it all,
and they clarify much of the confusion of the earlier
Posts made before Colby's Article in RMM-8(2) was widely
available to most subscribers of RMM. ... -Cliff Hall+++

Tom: I've got one that I just finished. The distance between 1 and 2 is 15 inches. At no-load the line is sitting at 6 o'clock on the bumper guide. Under load the line moves on the bumper guide a little to about 4 o'clock. Am I looking at a re-wrap? Thanks for the advice.

What you have is a 90 degree transition guide system. Oh, it'll work, but not in the same manner that the bumper system does.

The line in the bumper should never much touch anywhere but at that point on the ring nearest the blank. It will always press the guide into the blank. Your first two guides are too far apart.

..........

Do I need to worry about too much stress on the blank?

No, but that 90 degree guide may get pushed or twisted out of place over time.

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