I am building a 4 piece travel fly rod and was wondering, if any, good tips there are in finding the spine. Assemble and then find the spine or ?????.

Dave D.

You can do both. Spine all 4 sections separately (a bit tougher on the butt sections), then assemble with the marks aligned and check again. Easiest way is just to assemble the rod on the straightest axis, and build that way. You can spine it assembled to stragihtest axis, but it's likely to be off from that axis. Either way, the spine effect will not dramatically change the properties of the rod.

I agree with Ted's advice. I build lots of 4, 5, and 6pc. fly rods and have spined them and built them in every conceivable way. When you test the blanks and rods with the CCS in all these different configurations, they never vary in ERN by more than a penny or so. To me, that's proof enough that the differences are more perceived than real. The one thing everyone can notice easily, though, is a crooked or curved rod so you might as well assemble the rod to maximize straightness. If you use a Five Rivers multi-piece rod, they are invariably so straight that you can easily get a straight rod AND put the spine where you want it at the same time because all the sections seem to be straight in every plane. I don't know if Dan just culls a lot more blanks in the inspection process or if his are just straighter to begin with but the end result is noticeable to me. Hands down, the straightest brand I have used.

Spine all 4 sections, each without any consideration of the others. Then set them up with the spines aligned.

Uncle Russ