I was wondering if on a very light in weight blank as the Sage ZXL, if single foot guides with less wrapping than the factory built rods that use snake guides would have any affect on the feel or action of the rod. Normally I use the single foot REC guides but have not done so with the newer and lighter rods. I will be building a 5 wt. 9ft ZXL Sage. I know Loomis uses the single foot guides on their top of the line fly rods, but Sage uses the snake guides. Anyone with experience with these blanks have an opinion?

Action won't change, that just how the blank bends. Reaction time does though, the time that the blank takes to stop moving. Not sure why Sage still uses snakes, maybe they snag less or they don't have guides pull out from under the wraps if you do snag up on something. Maybe it's just a marketing, nostalgia thing.

Action, no. Feel, yes. As you add additional weight, the reaction and recovery time increases. If whatever guides you use weigh more than what Sage uses, the feel will be different - slower and less responsive. If your guides weigh less, the feel will again be different - quicker and more responsive.

Snakes are generally used on commercially made fly rods because they are very inexpensive and because that's what most fly rod customers expect to see on a fly rod.

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I was debating between the Snake brand snake guides and the Rec guides. I'll most likely go with the REC single foot guides which may or may not be lighter, but the wraps will certainly be lighter with the single foot guides. A little quicker feel may be nice on the Sage ZXL. I was originally debating which blank to use between the Z-Axis and the ZXL. It is nice to bounce ideas around and get input.

instead of starting a new thread i am thinking of building a 6 weight very soon, and was wondering in your opinion what are the best guides to use to enhance the blank and its casting? fuji tit/sic single legs? rec recoils? love to hear your thoughts