Hello to all...
I read a respond by Cliff Hall on a locking wrap post.
It got me a little confused ´cos the man wrote he uses a lot of thread tension?
I´ve always been told to use so mutch tension that I could move (align) the guides with moderate power.
I have been doing it like this for about four years now with no guide failures.
However Mr Cliff here adviced somebody to use so mutch tension that the guides should be unable to move even whitout the finish on?
He wrote he likes his thread "guitarstring tight"? Or maybe I just didn´t understand what I was reding, my english isn`t that good either :-)
Seems to me that Cliff is a guy that has been building rods for a very long time and really knows hes business.
Hes knowledge is remarkble.
So, whats the real deal with thread tension? How do you pro´s wrap?
I´m not doubting anything here, I´m just curious.
I wrap mostly light tackle rods and I think I will continue doing things the way I´m used to.
But anyway, I would be nice to know am I making mistakes here?
Thanks rodbuilders.
-Kim-

I wrap very snug and under wraps maybe a little tighter. I got the impression that Cliff gets them as tight as he can.

Wrapping extremely tight can damagemany of the lighter, thin walled blanks. It's not really a good idea nor is it necessary. Wrap snug but not tight. Figure that after wrapping you should be able to slightly move or shift the guides into alignment with moderate force. They shouldn't just flop over but neither should they require a tremendous amount of force to move them.

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

Thats what I tought
thanks to both Tom`s

Kim - If what you are doing works for you, please don't let my comments upset your methods. I was more reporting that thread tension is (very) important to good guide wraps than saying that everybody needs to string it as tight as an A-string. For people that find it hard to get & keep perfect alignment while wrapping, wrapping too tight could introduce more trouble than it prevents. I just like it very tight, and I am reporting that it is indeed possible to wrap very tightly (Regular & NCP nylon) if you want to and you do it carefully. Guides can be perfectly aligned, and rod blanks will not crush under the wrap. At least not the saltwater rods I wrap. If I were building UL's and FW-FLY rods, I may feel more relaxed about thread tension. But with the 15++lb SW stuff, I don't. If your rods are performing to your expectations, then, ... "If it ain't broke, Don't fix it!" ... -Cliff Hall+++

I will repeat a tip I saw on here, and apoligize for not remembering who gave it. Put the spool and 34 pennies in a zip lock bag and just let it hang. Gives what I found to be a perfect tension up to the last 3 or so tip guides. Then I drop back to 25 pennies weight. The guides are held nice and firm but can be moved with pressure from my thumb nail at the side for final alinement.

Ill sure try that on my next rod. For sure there is no doubt that each wrap will be uniform regarding tension. Its also good to know that Cliff is wrapping a BIG rod.