Hi,
I'm about to build a 9 foot 4-piece 8 weight. I've decided to use Recoils for the entire rod.

I asked REC for their guide size recommendation and they suggested 3 stripping guides (two legged) size 20-16-12 and then snakes sizes 5 -4-3-2 for the rest. Also they suggested loosing the size 12 and replacing it with a snake size 6.

Now - I looked at Sage's webpage for their recommendations for the Xi rods and they suggest to jump from size 20 down to size 12 and then snakes size 5-4-3.

But if you can jump from 20 to 12 then why not from 12 to 3 (or loose the size 4 snake) ?

Apart from maybe looking weird - what would the disadvantages and advantages be of dropping all the transition guides and just get down in size quickly ?

Which sizes (Recoil guides) would you choose for this rod ?

The rod would be used with the Rio Outbound lines.

Thanks
Peter

There are only advantages to dropping all the intermediate sizes. They do absolutely nothing for you or your rod. Nothing. And it won't look weird to drop them. Have you been following the RodMaker articles on guide sizing? Which set-up really looks weird?

Guides are spaced some distance apart. What difference do you suppose going from say a #5 to a #2 will do compared to going from a #5 to a #4? Nothing. It won't move the line path by a single milimeter. Not even that. But it will reduce weight by a bit.

I'm just thankful that the manufacturers don't offer more sizes than they already do. Because if they offered them, you know that rod builders would feel compelled to use them, and use them all.

Now you need to do your own tests, but on that rod I'd most likely do something like this:

16 - 10 - and then #2 or #3 snakes the rest of the way out. Use the smallest size that will still pass all your required connections.

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

Hi Peter,

I have just finished two coastal rods (RPLXI 990-3 and TFO TiCR 790-4) with the following setups:


Sage RPLXI: #20, #16, #12, 5, 4, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3 #8 TT

TFO TiCR: #20, #16, #12, 5, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, #8 TT


Compared to common setups for coastal rods (assume use at the Danish coast for your rod, too) I really like the difference to rods with standard tip top and 2 strippers. We had the chance to make an exact comparision, a friend of mine with his standard RPLXI and my one as stated above. Result is that my rod was casting easier, a little further and more silent. The fact silent in itself is not really important but it expresses from my point of view less line wear and friction.

The guides between tip top and strippers I decided to go with stand out snake guides from Hopkins and Holloway in the UK. With these guides I ensured an absolutely straight line shot - if you look through the #20 guide towards the tip end of the rod you can see at the end in the middle the full tip top eye.

I would recommend to ensure for whatever guide you will go to avoid a harsh step from stripper to snake/SF/whatever guide to avoid a point where the line might get some more friction than necessary due to a bending in the total line flow.

Now you haev two different points fo view and teh next one will not have to wait too long...

Anyway, wish you a nice pluzzling time to find out what's best for you - this is something what I really enjoy during my projects.



Regards,
Ole

A size 20 stripper guide seems bit big I'd start with, a 16 at most and serioulsy consider a 12. I would start with a 12 if it were my rod and seeing as it was a 4 pc blank I would use either 2 or three ceramic guides depending on how the last ceramic guide fell (was positioned) guide spacing wise, as it relates to the ferrule arrangment. I would not put that 1st single foot guide close too (directly before), 1st or second sleeved ferrule, as this invites line slap where as adding another ceramic guide would lift it up over this. Now you may incounter this exact same situation farther down the blank on ferrules 3 and 4 so one less never hurts ands is worth carring the extra weight. Which the line slap axoim dictates: its better to add weight with an extra guide than incurr the friction from line slap.