My wife wants a rod for fishing a Zebco 33. She had me buy a casting reel seat from Fishsticks because they had one as near to "Carolina blue" as you would ever see. The blank is probably going to be painted to match. I realize the hole in the front of the reel actually acts as the first guide since it chokes down the line. Does anyone have suggestions on where to start the guides and what consideration to give to the size? I'm also considering going spiral, anyone tried it with a spincast? Any input would be appreciated.
Mike

Where that butt guide goes will be dependent to a degree on the type of blank selected-you wouldn't want it so far from the reel that the line gets down on or to the side of the rod when loaded. That could happen with a blank that flexes deeply into the butt. The size and height of that butt guide will influence that as well. Start at 20" or so and adjust according to what static testing reveals-that will dictate the placement of the other guides as well. I don't see any reason to have a guide ring in that 1st spot that is larger than the exit hole on the reel, and could probably use smaller. From that point fwd you will have to take into consideration whether knots will have to pass. Line tied directly to the lure would allow the use of very small fly guides-eliminating unnecessary weight and as we have found-make it a better caster. Spiral wrapping should work.
I have a really nice orange paint that IMO would look much better.

I'm with Chris on this, starting at about twenty inches out.
6mm 5mm 4mm 3mm's to the 6mm Alps tip
Spiral wrap will work great for casting, but not sure (because of the way the reel loads line back on the spool), if it will have an effect on line twist.

I can see no advantage in spiraling with this specific application. Do not get me wrong, I absolutely see the advantage of the spiral wrap.
But I fail to see that enough force could be placed on the rod as to incur torque twist with a Zebco 33 and light line.
Looking for education......

Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works. You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else.
Leonardo da Vinci

I use to do the regular wrap for my wife rods since that she likes to use Zebco reels, but have since gone to the sprial wrap and she now prefers it wrapped it wrapped as a sprial as is better for her for fighting fish. To each his own.

Edwin Kime