I am new to this site but I love it. Thank you all in advance for your help.

I am starting my third fly rod.

The first two were two piece blanks, Rainshadow 7'6" 3 wt. and G Loomis F1088 8wt. that I built last winter w/out the benifit of this site. I have learned so much already just searching this site for information. When I made the the first two rods I had read somwhere that the guides are mounted opposite the spine so thats what I did. From you guys I am reading that most custom builders mount the guides opposte the spine axis or what I understand as the high side if the blank were rolled on a straight surface.

My next project is a four piece 9' Sage VT2 5 wt. "590-4 B". The blank came with china marker dots on each piece at the ends as if the manufacturer has already determind where the spine/axis is. My question is, do I disregard these marks and go about my business as I have in the past or are these marks important and should I mount my guides opposite them.

When I put the rod together and align the marks, the rod acts like I have indeed found the spine when using the rolling on a table method.

Best Regards
Peter White
Lyme, CT

I may be wrong but I believe those dots are there so that you can align the pieces in the straightest axis possible and not necessarily on the spine.

A better question than the one you asked is to do a search here on "spine" and like Ellis says I also think the dots are for the straightest axis.

I'm not sure any rod manufacturer splines there factory rods, I don't either. Some myths die hard.

Sage does not spine their rods. The Sage alignment marks indicate the straightest axis.

You can use those, or not.

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I have taken the time to read all or most of the comments on this topic and apologize for beating the horse. My plan is to check each piece for straightness and wrap the guides on the low side. If the factory dots coincide with what I see then good for Sage, if not, I will trust my own eye.

This is what I have learned from you. If I am off-track let me know.

Best Regards
Peter White
Lyme, CT

It won't make or break the rod either way, but I think you're on the right track. Although as custom builders we pride ourselves on building rods that are (should be) better than commercially made rods, keep in mind that Sage rods are highly regarded by most who use them. So they know at least something about how to align their rods for assembly.

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I do not believe the spine makes an iota of difference if it is up or down vertically! On a 4pc 5 wt it could make a slight difference if the spine is 90 degrees to the vertical on the top section, but most would never notice it in actual use.

Modern graphite rod technology has virtually put the "spine issue" out of business!

Actually, the dynamics of the lever arm effect of the guides meant that spine was never an issue to begin with.


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