hi again all,

i just got a 4 piece blank (4 wt) for a rod for me.

i've aligned for the spline, but when i sight down the blank, the tip curves off to the right.

what does this mean? should i align the tip section so that it curves up? what does this mean in terms of both action and power?

My gut tells me that if i turn the curve down (so that the tip curves down away from the spline), then i'll gain some action on the pickup. the curve of the rod would not come into play (or cause an elliptical pattern to the cast). Or conversely, if i turn the curve up, that there would be a faster tip action in the forward cast.

how does this curve thing work? or more importantly, how do i work it to an advantage in what situation?

thanks as always,

justin

I would forget the spine (actually it has very little effecton anything one way or the other anyway) and build to the curve (belly of the curve down)

Mike (Southgate, MI)
If I don't want to, I don't have to and nobody can make me (except my wife) cuz I'm RETIRED!!

Justin Crouse - Do a "SEARCH = SPINE" [90 DAYS or Last Year; Subject + Body] of the RBO Archives for some more discussion of this subject.

Your take-home lesson will likely boil down to some blend of your own original views (which are very good) and Mike Barkley's concluding advice and principle. No need to lose too much sleep over rod spine orientation.

It tends to be one thing that the more you understand about it, and the fairly small magnitude of the different orientations in most cases, the more you realize that whatever orientation suits your fancy will provide just as functional a rod as another orientation.

Only if you have a customer who is picky about his spine orientation preferences, or a rod blank that has a particularly strong spine or pronounced curvature, is spine orientation likely to require much attention, or make much difference.

IMO, -Cliff Hall+++, FL-USA

I know you are talking about a fly rod, but, this is my understanding od spine. Being on a bass rod, if the spine is, say, 90 deg to the eye allignment. When you set the hook or are fighting the fish, won't the rod want to try and roll?

"... won't the rod want to try and roll?"

In a word no. If the rod wants to roll at all when placed under a load, it will be to move the guides towards the direction the load is coming from. If the guides are already located on the side of the rod facing the fish (ie, spinning, fly or spiral wrapped casting) it should remain rock steady. If they are located on the opposite side of the rod, as with a conventional casting rod setup, the tendancy of the rod to roll will increase with increasing load. The location of the spine, relative to the guides, has very little to do with a rod's stability under load.




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/18/2006 07:45AM by Joe Hepp.

Joe put that very well. A lot of this spine stuff is just myth, but it's been with us for so long that many guys accept it as fact.

It would be rare that the spine would be in line with any natural curve in the blank. You'll have to choose which to build around. The factories build around the straightest axis and forget about spine.

And no, you won't cast in an epliptical pattern or lose accuracy one way or the other. Now if the natural curve was very, very, very bad, and it was off to the side, you might start to notice some casting problems, but it will have to be off by a considerable amount.

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