I am building my first ice rod and need help on the guide spacing. The blank is 24 inches and I will use three guides (plus the tip top). The grip covers the bottom 7 3/4 inches. What would you suggest for guide spacing?

Thanks

Is it a light power noodle rod or a med hvy rod? I take into consideration, even on these short ice rods, how they bend when placing the guides. Even though its only 24 inches, do a simple static test and load it up and look at it. take some masking tape and temporarily plac guides where you think they will work best. On real light power ice rods, it is important to do this to insure that the line isn't touching the blank under load. when you bend a little 24 inch rod into a question mark...lol...its amazing how the line flows on the blank on alot of rods. You also didnt mention whether its going to have spinning guides or casting type guides...this will affect how far the line sits off the rod. On most of my 24 to 28 inch ice rods the guides end up like this. From the tip to the next guide is about 4 inches. from that guide to the next is 4 1/2 inches and from that guide to the guide closest to the handle is another 5 inches. The gap only grows 1/2 inch from tip to butt each guide starting at 4 inches. This formula works right on the nuts for a 28 inch long butt to tip ice rod at about med power. if its a lite power rod or if its shorter in overall length...then you will have to adjust the starting distance from 4 inches to 3 1/4 or so. you will have to experiment. these measurements should only serve to give you a starting point to look at the temporary placement under load.
Jeff