A friend ask me to put all new guides on a 7 ft casting rod that he has had for a number of years. It came from Bass Pro Shop. He ask that I replace the guides and to sprial wrap it. After removeing all the rod guides I discovered that the rod had 9 guides on it. My plan was to use 7 guides plus a tip and a bumper guide to spirial it. Am I of my rocker or something? All my experience tells me 7 guides are enough. Why does Bass Pro put 9 guides (plus the tip) on a 7 ft. rod? This is a medium weight (8-17 lb test) rod. Yes the blank seems to be of good quility. I have "roughed " the guides in and static tested it with 7 guides and this seems to be plenty. Am I off base or overlooking something.

Ed Smith
Flat Rock, NC

No, sounds about right. The extra guides were for a conventional, guides on top setup.

My father has asked me to build him a Rainshadow RX8+ 6'10". and asked if I would put 9-10 guides on it for him. I told him it more than likley would only take 7-8, but he said he just liked the look of the extra guides.

He is 69 years young and fishes a tourney about every weekend of the month, plus 3-5 more days a week. By now. I think he knows what he wants in a rod. I'm not going to argue with him...LOL

Mark Syck

SYCKO Custom Rods
There Are No Limits To The Imagination

Gents, I have been wondering about this for a while, what is the maximum distance acceptable between the line and blank when performing a static test in the loaded position ? I've been using about 5/8 to 3/4". Is that too close ? Thanks all .

Ideally you don't want the line to touch the blank when under load. But under a very heavy load, it may be impossible to keep the line completely off the blank without using a ton of guides. For that reason, you might select and space guides so that the line doesn't touch the blank under moderate loads, but might just contact the blank when under the very heaviest expected loads.

Keep in mind that lower guides reduce the lever arm effect to some extent but will require more guides to keep the line off the blank. Higher guides only exacerbate the tendency of the rod to want to twist, but you don't have to use as many of them to keep the line off the blank.

Of course, a spiral wrap negates most of these problems with conventionally wrapped rods.

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Thanks, This answered my questions. First why they put nine guides on it in the first place and second why only seven guides plus a bumber guide would be right for a spiral wrap for this rod.

Thank you for your comments.
Ed Smith

I'm surprised that the rod had nine guides on it in the first place coming from a factory.

St. Croix uses 9 guides on their casting rods that use Fuji Concept guides - 9 guides but most are small and many are single foots. I have an Avid crankbait rod with 9 guides and it's fantastic.