Kinda in a delima here. I don't know if I like the bumper guide wrapped as the same as the other guides or wrapped plain ole black. I thought black would be better because it wouldn't stand out as much and therefore the guide spacing would look normal in between the first two guides. But then if it's wrapped liked the other guides it is more noticable and the spacing looks odd. Hmmm! I'm stuck here. What do you do or what is your preference?

Thanks,
Steve

For many years I've wrapped it in a color that matches the rod blank. In most cases with grey blanks, that's 441 charcoal grey finished without CP.

It's just a cosmetic thing - once you get used to how nicely it works, you'll forget about how it looks.

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

As you see fit, ... You'll become accustomed to either with use,
... IMO, ... Happy Passover & Happy Easter, -Cliff Hall+++

Steve, like so many other issues here, this also comes down to personal preference. I typically wrap the bumper guide with the same color thread as the main guides, but without any trim wraps, underwraps, etc. that the main guides may have. I'm willing to bet however that you'll hear all different combinations in answer to your question. I think Tom has talked in the past about omitting the bumper guide and finding another way to protect the blank where the line will rub on it. I've toyed around with the idea of a short tube of titanium such as what Lamiglas uses for their titanium rods. If you could find the right diameter, cut it to about an inch long, Rod Bond it to the area where the thread hits the rod, you could eliminate the bumper guide. Although an inch may be too short. You would want to make it long enough so that the line wouldn't accidentally catch the end of the "guard" and cut the line. I'm sure there are other materials more easily obtained than titanium tubing that would also work. In fact I'll be surprised if Tom and some others haven't already been trying this.

Jeff Hunter

With rodbuilding is is possible to make a silk purse out of a sows ear. Most get hung up on conventional looks when the real issue is how it works and fishes. No foregrip looks funny, flocked grips look kinda wierd, split grips look goofy, cut down reel seats look skinny, no winding check looks cheap, holographic guides scare everyone and the spiral wrap looks like the builder was drinking! Have you considered wrapping the bumper with fluorescent orange to catch attention so everyone will ask what in the devil is that little scrawny guide sitting crossways between two real guides. Just smile and keep on truckin!

Fsh No Mo

Like Tom, I try to wrap the bumper guide with thread as close a match to the blank as possible. I think I mostly use a color that Angler's Workshop sells (only in large spools). I don' t remember the color number, but it's called "graphite". Depending on the exact color gray of the blank, you might finish it with or without CP.

for a doofus like me that doesn't even know what a bumber guide is please do tell. ike

Ike....you can do a search on "bumper guide". Should get everything you need to know. A doofus like me can't splain things too well. LOL

A "BUMPER GUIDE" is the Line Guide mounted at 90 degrees offset, located about half-way between the BUTT guide at ZERO degrees and the 2nd guide at 180 degrees in a Spiral Wrap system called "The Simple Spiral: The BUMPER WRAP" developed by William "Bill" Colby and Tom Kirkman. The definitive presentation and explanation of this Bumper Wrap, with illustrations, is available in ROD-MAKER Magazine Volume 8, Issue 2 [RMM-8(2)]. That was the RMM issue of April 2005. Back issues are available for $7.

If Spiral Wraps are, or will become, part of your rod-building design strategies, then getting this back issue, IMO, is a bargain for the $7. This Bumper System is very easy to work with - but it also seems to be so simple as to be very prone to being misunderstood. The "lynch pin" of the whole system is that the Bumper Guide has to be sized and positioned so that the LATERAL pressure on the guide is next to NIL. If that principle is not sufficiently preserved in your guide sizing & placement, then your Bumper Guide will soon become a "swinging guide" when the rod flexes deeply. NOT good!

How do you do a Bumper System (Spiral Wrap) for a top-mounted conventional revolving spool reel on a casting or boat rod? ... Begin by choosing & spacing the line guides as if you were NOT going to do a Spiral Wrap. Then size & space the line guides in your old usual way. Then FLIP all the guides forward of the Butt Guide from the TOP Position ABOVE the rod blank (at ZERO degrees) down UNDER the rod to the 180 degree Position BELOW the rod blank. Then place a small, low-frame, low ring-height, ring guide about mid-way between the Butt Guide and the 2nd Guide at a 90 degree offset. Usually a size 6-8-10mm ring, as small as suitable for the job.

Now do some static deflection of the rod. Adjust the location of the Bumper Guide to where there is ONLY LINE PRESSURE pushing the Bumper Guide INTO the rod blank. WITHOUT ANY LATERAL or ROTATIONAL component to the line, trying to rotate the guide around the rod blank. The fishing line should touch the guide ring at the 6 o'clock position. If the fishing line is hitting the bumper guide's ring at 3 o'clock or 9 o'clock position, re-adjustment is definitely required.

Well, if that is still a little fuzzy, I am not the least bit surprised. It simply cannot be explained much more than that - you have to SEE it. Colby or Kirkman were getting DOZENS of e-mails from guys who had never bothered to read the RMM Article. ... This is where the limits of the Forum's format is reached, and the Reader is obliged to respect that, IMO.

Hopefully, that gives a general idea of what a Bumper Guide and the new Bumper Wrap are. I'm sure a Search and some browsing on the PHOTOS Board would give some examples, but the 2 diagrams and 2 photographs that are in the RMM article really say it all, IMO.

Happy Passover, Good Friday & Happy Easter,
-Cliff Hall+++, Gainesville, FL-USA*****

As far as NOT using a Bumper Guide at all, but some sort of "Rub Rail" or "Rub Sleeve", there was an extensive discussion of various ideas for rod-mounted "Bumper Rings" around Christmas 2005 - New Years 2006. Take a look at these:

Re: Bumper guide for a spiral ... Cliff Hall ... Dec. 27, 2005 10:19
[www.rodbuilding.org]

There was a similar discussion on this same subject in an earlier thread:
[www.rodbuilding.org]
Good luck, - Mark Gibson, Material Scientist & Polymer Chemist

Re: Inline Acid! ... Tom Kirkman (Moderator) ... Dec. 30, 2005 09:26
[www.rodbuilding.org]
No, you're not nuts, but it might be hard to keep such a thing on a flexible rod blank. The idea of a ring around the blank is excellent, but the fact that the blank needs to able to flex, move and oval means that any such ring that constricts the blank from doing any of these things could well result in a broken blank. Even an O-ring contained in a rigid ring will constrict the blank to some degree. Enough to cause failure? Depends on the blank and the amount of load applied.

Obviously a lot of guys are thinking on this idea and that's good. In the meantime, you can still use the standard bumper guide - it works very well. -TK.

I read and re-read the RM article so I'd fully understand the deal. I understand it. Clever people, those. The writers also suggest a slightly different placement of the bumper guide for heavier style rods. (angle of attack)
It may be a bit anal, but I could not quite get the starting guide placement methodology. It made more sense for me to take the spine into consideration, do the initial guide placement layout, wrap off ( or at least tape off) all the "above butt" guides, get them spotted, __then__ flip over, moving just the one guide instead of all the rest.