In trying to understand the best guide layout possible, I've found out that all guides are not created equal - or the same height. A 30mm Fuji Concept Y guide is 61mm tall and sits 19 11/16" from the spool face when set up according to the Concept primer method. However, a Forecast 30mm VS guide is 51.35mm tall and would be positioned about the same spot as a 25mm Fuji Y guide - 26 13/16" from the spool. That's over a 7" difference on 30mm guides from different manufactures - no wonder I struggle.

I have all Fuji Y guides at the present and would like a bit of direction in my layout. One setup has a 6mm intersection guide followed by 8L-12-20-30 with spacings from the intersection guide at 4 7/16" - 9 3/8" - 11 5/16" - 13 5/8". This 5 guide layout looks nice but I'm going to be hostage with the first 4 7/16" spacing being out of whack with the rest of the tip section guides.

Another 4 guide layout has a 7mm intersect guide followed by 10-16-30 with spacings from the intersect guide at 9 1/8" - 9 3/4" - 19 5/16". I can space out the tip section guides with the static test since I have 9" to work down from but the 19 5/16" between the last 2 guides has me worried. Should I tape the 7-10-16 in place and creep the 30mm forward (like Chris Karp does) until it's a reasonable distance from the next guide? And what would that "reasonable" distance be roughly? I'm using a Daiwa reel with a 62mm spool diameter so I'd really like to keep the 30mm as my butt guide. Thanks.

I would tell you to set it up like the article on the online library here says to do it. Try to start with a guide that is roughly 1/2 the size of your reel spool. So if you want to use a 30, that's fine. But, a 25 can be just as effective, if it sits higher. Height generally ends up being more important than ring size, within reason.

In the end, you just have to spend some time trying a few different set ups. It's not a big deal and guides just aren't very expensive.

Your set ups don't make a lot of sense to me, but I've done this a long time and dispensed with certain guides. I think you can safely toss out guides like the 8L. I'd really have to look at the rest of them - the sizes don't sound to me like they would provide a straight line path.

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The Fuji Concept 'J' frames are specifically built with longer legs/higher frames.

Jay