I am going to try my hand at wrapping one of my All Star 7.5' blanks in a spiral wrap. My question is this, is there a formula for figuring out the guide spacing for an acid wrap, I did a search but did not really come up with what I am looking for.
Thanks Rob

There are many spiral wrap methods fully detailed in RodMaker Magazine.

In the meantime, do a search on this forum for "simple spiral" and I think you can turn up enough information to get you what you want.

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The only rule is: There are no rules!

You can space the guides the same as you do a conventional and do the spiral thing from there.

I have a mental thing that I don't put the butt guide less than 18 inches from the seat. and the first 180 guide has to be before the flex point.

I make spiral surf rods and put the butt guide on the ferrule. The rest of the guides go on the tip. I use light(single foot) guides for the runners and double footed for the transition guides.

Like Tom says, there are many methods which he aptly explains in his magazine. Try them all to find what you need. One method will work best for casting, while the other works best for pulling. All are no torque. Try them and I'm sure that you'll like it. I haven't wrapped a rod conventionally in possibly 8 years.

Hope this helps. C2

what issue of the rodmaker magazine is that?

Volume 6 Issue #5 That issue also has an outstanding article on color change weaving by Jim Upton. Well worth the price of admission! c2

Also look up "Revolver Rod" for more info.

Rob, The way I learned is by purchasing a spiral wraped rod from a custom builder. I would start by duplicating the guide placement , rubber band the guides in place and test cast and tie my line to various weights to mimic fighting and pulling on a fish. Modify my guide placement and start over again until I got it just right . Take note of the position of the butt guide , that will determain how even the line will spool on the reel. Often , the butt guide will have be clocked in the opposite direction of the other transition guides.

Joseph;
That depends largely on the reels. I build all spiral wraps, off set my stripper guides in the same direction of the rest of the wrap and have never had or seen a problem with line gathering to one side.
But all the rods I build are bass rods set up to use with reels that that line guides. I do use these same rods to do some surf and inshore fishing at times.

So I would suggest determining what type of reels one would be using before deciding whether you need to offset the stripper guide in the opposite direction as this may cut down on casting distance a bit because of the side pressure put on the line as it goes through the counter offset stripper guide.

On reels without line guides where you control the line lay by your thumb offsetting may have and advantage, but that will be influenced by which direction you spiral and which hand you use to hold your rod.

Steve , I agree with you . My butt guides are clocked in the same direction as my transition guides on my bass and inshore rods. I build mostly light -med tackle offshore boat rods.
The larger and wider spool reels often needs the butt guide clocked in the opposite direction than the transition guides. I do set up the guides with the reel that will be mounted on the rod. The closer the butt guide is to the reel face the more cridical it becomes to clock the butt guide in the proper position to prevent uneven line build up on the reel. A heavy crank bait that requires a lot of effort on the reel handle will have effect on uneven line build up on a reel. I will reel in and drag a 1lb lead weight across the back yard for test purposes.

Steve , I set my butt guides 12.5in. from the reel face and often use a size 20 high frame surf guide in order to keep the line off the foregrip. I will also use up to 9 guides on a 7ft. rod.
I know the distance from the reel face to the butt guide is closer than it needs to be in most cases and the number of guides I use imore than necesary. I build my rods this way with the intended purpose of achieving full use of the power and dynamics of the entire length of rod blank . If a rod I build is over loaded and breaks , I hope it breaks in front of the hand thats pulling on the foregrip.

I believe Charlie Smoote has it right when he said: " the first 180 guide has to be before the flex point " . Seeker Rods would call that the last shut off point.