I did some searches, and found some partial answers, but nothing definitive. In the last eight weeks I have completed my first two [simple] spiral wrapped rods. Both are for freshwater (bass) and both rods have fast to extra fast actions. As such, there appears to be only a minimal amount of loading on the first 180 guide. (My first static load test produced no loading until I went with smaller guides.) I completely understand the concerns one might have about a rod with a more parabolic action, but is that same concern necessary with a rod that only flexes in the upper portions? Should I have moved my butt guide further up the blank along with the others, or just not worry about it? Other than that light loading, everything seems to be functioning just fine although I haven't landed anything with mine that could be described as a lunker. For the record, my butt guide was a double footed #8, the bumper was a double footed #7, and I used #6's the rest of the way, and it casts like a dream.
Thanks for any help!
Tight lines,
Hunter

From ghoulies and ghosties,
and long leggedy beasties,
and things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord deliver us!

Your concerns shouldn't be concerns. You've gotten caught up in something that isn't worth worrying about. All rods have a progressive action. As you put more and more load on the rod the flex in the rod will move down the rod toward and past the mid section onto the butt area. When the lower areas flex, the guides will carry a load. Until that area of the rod flexes, they will not. The same is true if you built the rod as a spinning rod. Stop worrying about it. It's not a concern.

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Thanks, Tom. I thought that was the case, but after reading so many other posts about this issue, I was getting a tad paranoid. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to do an electronic sweep to see if there are any listening devices in my house!
Tight lines,
Hunter

From ghoulies and ghosties,
and long leggedy beasties,
and things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord deliver us!

I think you probably misunderstood what was being said. None of the butt guides will carry much of a load until the blank begins to carry a heavy load.

What some were referring to, was that even when heavily loaded and flexed into the butt area the line would run straight from the butt guide to the 2nd 180 degree guide without any arc to the first 180 guide. This is a slight problem that is very easily corrected, but from what you're saying, I don't think it's the situation you have there.

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Tom, I'm curious--what would that correction be? I just built a Seeker CLB702 "simple spiral wrapped", with the following spacing:
Tip, 3 7/8, 7 3/4, 12 1/2, 17 1/4, 22 3/4, 28 1/4, 35 1/8, 42 1/4, and 52. The 52 is on top, the rest are at 180, and additionally there is a bumper guide at 90 degrees halfway between the 52 and 42 1/4. The guide sizes are, beginning at the 3 7/8 guide: 8,8,8,8,8,8,10,12,16 and the bumper guide is 8.
These are all Fuji BNLG casting guides.

When this rod is flexed to it's almost max, the first 180 guide (at 42 1/4 inches) gets sideways pressure at about 5 oclock. At close to what I would consider maximum flex of this rod, the bulk of the strain seems to be on the second 180 degree guide. Did I mess up or is this OK as well? If you think a photo of this rod under flex with reel on and line running through would help you answer this question, I'd be happy to email you one. Thanks a million.

BTW, I too share your belief that the Seeker CLB blanks are great live bait rods, and am so glad Mark at Acid Rod carries them. I intend to build at least one more CLB as an albacore rod, probably using an 806 this time.

Thanks again for your help, all.
Charles Horan

You're probably okay, but you can try a smaller guide at that location if you want to put the line more down into the bottom of the ring when it's under heavy load. I routinely use a smaller or lower (closer to the blank) guide at my first 180 degree position than I do for the remainder of the guides.

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