I was wondering what you guys do to keep your guides straight? I have built about a dozon rods, and sold a few of them. I find that my guides are straight, but they are not perfect. I really want to sell my stuff, but I want to perfect it first! Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

There are some things even machines still cant do all that well. Eyeballing it is about the best you can get or run a line though them with little tension (1/4-1/2oz weight) and make sure the line touches the same relative spot on every guide.

Great idea. I will give that a try!

I have found that after wrapping the guides (before any type of finish) and you can still move them, with rod horizontal I turn the rod so the guides are on the underside and then site down from directly above and determine if each guide is in the same relative location side to side. This works because the rod acts as a straight edge and you will see portions of the guides on each side of the rod. I found this to be much more accurate then trying to eyeball with guides on top.

Not the only way, but one that works for me.

I've got a piece of small diameter rod about4 ft. long; and is straight after checking.
It's fed through the guides. Alignment can be checked with guides either up or down;
along with eyeballing.

jocko

After the handle and seat is on I mark the blank and glue the top on. Then I wrap from the top to the butt. After each guide is wrapped I eyeball and align to the top. One at a time with them up and down, in good light.

Bill - willierods.com

Dont forget - even though you build on the "straightest" axis there may be compound bends in the blank that prevents a perfect build. That will show as off-center guides.
Herb

Jonathan,I am new to the craft also.i was having problems with guide straightness.i remembered something on a flex coat dvd how Roger Seiders got his straight.hold the rod in the middle of your chest and keep both eyes open.you can then see on both sides of your rod at the same time and see how much guide is sticking out on each side of the rod.hold the rod sort of sticking up and you can see from butt to tip.you can also see in the middle of guide and see how it lines up in relation to the centerline of your rod.i hope this helps,it did for me.thanks to Mr.Seiders.jim.

This has got to be my least favorite part of the building rods and it shows in my alignment. I just don't pay that much attention to it anymore, as long as I get them close the any crooked rod looks straight while fishing, I am good with it.

I know factories have tried lazers, strings, racks, sticks etc. but probably the good ol, "by eye" thing works the best. Remembering way back, I did most of the guide aligning myself by eye which ment I could be aligning 75 to over 100 rods a day by myself, talk about a drag...... I would have various workers align and when I found a gal that could get them close she was instantly recruited. Everybody sees "straight guides" differently and the trick was to find someone that was fast and if I handed a rod to various folks they could accept the guides as aligned "straight". The nice part was that same person could usually apply decals straight as well.

We used to build on the spine with only slight variation for a straight rod overall. If the blank was straight we would make sure the guides were mounted on the center of the blank. Then we would look at the frames for alignment and then on to the space (if there was any) between blank and the guide rings when sighting down the rod. Most of the sighting would be done with the butt against our lower chest or upper belly. The back ground and lighting will make a huge difference as well. Probably the best thing to do if develop the procedure that works best for you with acceptable results in the end.

Best Regards,

Darrin Heim
American Tackle Company

I align from the tip looking toward the butt. Get the butt guide centered (by looking from handle), then work the other way with the other guides centered on the butt guide.

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Align em by eye as best as you can and go with it. After all, you're not shooting birds with it. Your customer is probably gonna look down the rod cuz that's what they think they're supposed to do. Kinda like kickin the tires on a new car before you buy it. As long as they look straight to him, he'll be alright with it but perfection here is way overkill as there is no return on perfectly straight guides over some that are just a tad off. Trust your eyeballs.

Thanks for all the great advice! It sounds like the eye is the way to go, but I will also try the other suggestions too.