Hi ,
I am gonna need little help. I bought 7' spinning rod wt. line 4 - 10 lbs. For placing guides I used the new guide concept system and I ended up with 9 guides + tip. I think that is too much.
I did everything what Tom Kirkman described in Rodmaker magazine and in his Rod building guide. He says that you should use the smallest guides from choke guide to the tip( same size) and distance shoul be 4-5 inches that means 5 guides. If I will take one off the distance will be more than 5 inches and that is not right for light spinning rods.
Same with guides from choke guide to the butt distance is 7.5-9.75-9.25 inches I used only 2 guides.
I would like to know if it is ok or there did I make mistake.

Guides I used : 25, 16, 8, 7choke, 5x7 + tip

Thank you for your help Jerry

run some line through it and test it. take out a few of the size 7 guides and test again. I wouldn't use over 7 for that rod maybe 8 total. Just play around with the spacing until it flexes right and the line runs true to the flex of the blank.

You did everything okay. How does it cast?

Per the article, you can remove one of the running guides, shift to a little more progressive spacing on the tip and try casting that as well. Use whichever seems to work better for you.

You're probably a lot closer than you think.

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

Just play with it...if you can remove one and still keep everything proper under load, go for it.

Jerry, Many times I end up using more guides & I used to think I was messing up too. But as Tom has stated, you are probably right in your results. The only thing you might try is smaller running guides & stretching them out a bit. Stop when you get the best results.
Jeff

If it flexes and casts well, I would leave it like it is. But like has been said, play with it and see how it feels.

Thank you for your help !!!!! Jerry

Jerry,
I just completed a 6'6" ultra-lite that uses a small Shimano reel. I ended up using 9 guides (25, 16, 8, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6, TT). It turned out to be exactly what I needed when I did the static test. Do a static test and see if it isn't the right setup.