I am a rookie when it comes to rod building, and no doubt i have a bit to learn, but over all, things are progressing nicely for me. I do have a couple of questions though.
I purchased two rod blanks that I will be making into spinners, for inshore fishing, namely stripers. The blanks are as follows. St Criox 3C80MF 8’ and a Lami GSH961MT also 8'.
When spining them, the Lami would roll & stop quite noticeably, where as the St Criox was more subtle, and not so pronounced, when settling out. Is this common, to see different blank manufacturers blanks behave so differently when locating the spine?
On to the next question. My mind is set (unless convinced otherwise) on using low rider guide sets on these blanks (Fuji LC). From what I have read, it appears that for the most part, these are used on rod lengths 9' or more, although people have built on smaller blanks. By doing so, am I limiting myself in some way's by going this route, or should I rethink my decision here.
I will use size 40 reels (Diawa Advantage, Cabo 40 and the like), 30lb Suffix or Power Pro braid. Throwing plugs around 1oz and rubber about the same weight.
Thanks

Yes, the spine effect is going to be different based on how straight the blank is, the particular pattern involved, etc. It's created by a combination of manufacturing anomalies that are going to be different from blank to blank and company to company. But since spine has little to no effect on rod twist or casting accuracy, it's not something you need to be overly worried about. Most commercial rod companies and many if not most custom builders simply build on the straightest axis and forget about rod spine.

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I use lowriders on rods down to 7' for spin/threadline outfits aimed at casting and running spinning reels/threadlines. I think its a brilliant guide design. A 4000 size daiwa matches to a 16M frame as a stripper works very nicely on an 8' rod with braids to PE4. I would not recomend them for mono any heavier then 5kg though. You will need to do test casts and play with the orientation of all the guides from the stripper to the intersect though to get the best performance. It took a lot of hard work to find crack the lowrider system but they are worth it

Guy's I appreciate your answers, anyone else want to chime in, the more input the better.
Can I use the "THE NEW GUIDE CONCEPT PRIMER" introductions as outlined in the library section, or is there another recommended method?
I hear that many guides are the norm for this type of set up, is this true? if so, what would be the recommended amount of guides for my particular set-up?

Sergio, I use a minimum of 6 lowriders on my rods. The most I have used on one rod would be 8 guides for a 12' stick. The NGC is a good starting point but will require a bit of playing around with to fine tune it for the best casting performance. I would advise that you get the all the sizes and try different combinations of the 20, 16M, 16, 12m, 12 feeding the 10s, 8s and 6s depending on how small you need to go on the running guides. The 6 are fine for upto 20lb albrighted mono leader. The 8s work well to 40lb and the 10s do 60lb and some low diameter 80lb leaders well. Try one larger size ring then your running guides on your tip top guide as well. The stripper at about the halfway point on the rod would be a good starting point as well on fast action blanks. You will need to do your static tests and load tests to make judment on this on slower actioned blanks to get a better compromise between power and casting

Rohit, thank you for the additional information. Low rider guides, are they all SIC or can I get a less expensive material. Also, how do I order larger rings?

Hi mate
They are available in Alconite ring with stainless steel frame, SiC with stainless steel frame, SiC with titanium frame. Mudhole is a good source. The largest ring is a size 20 and is perfect with reels as large as the biggest big pitch surf reels like the emblem pro if braids are used.

The New Guide Concept article in the library here should work well with your rod. However, I would locate the choker/intersect guide by multiplying your reel spool diameter by 27, and then locating the guide that distance from the face of the reel spool. Everything else, including the line path will be the same as what's in the online library article here.

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Thanks guys for your help and input. I'll keep you posted as to my progress (or lack thereof), and more than likely solicit your help down the road.

Have fun mate, if you run into any dramas or need to discuss any point then send me an email

You got it Rohit, thanks for the offer.