OK, I have done my testing and am ready to wrap.

Working with a Quantum Boca 50, spool diameter rounded to 2.4 inches and planning to use Berkley Big Game 15lb mono. Blank is a Talon GSU1164, 11’6” rated for 3 to 6 oz.

The main part of the set up fell like this- Choke guide locates at 65” per the 27X and this puts the butt guide at 31” using a standard high frame 40 guide. I thought that a little too far up the rod and experienced some line slap so moved to a 50 in the same frame type. It fell in line at 26 inches. I liked the way it looked and cast. Three transition guides fell in place nicely between the butt and the choker guide. The blank required 5 running guides not counting the choker. These were set 7 inches apart. This is where it got interesting.

Starting with size 10 runners, the line flowed nicely and I got the best distance of any set up I have attempted so far. So I moved to size 8 runners. Distance unchanged but at least as good. With size 6 runners the distance did not really seem to fall off, but the line resonated in the guides horribly. I think this may be approaching the limit for this size and stiffness of mono.

I will likely go with the size 10 runners just in case I were to ever use 20lb mono on this rod but I believe you could easily use the size 8 runners or even 6 runners with more supple line. Braid would easily work with the size 6 or even smaller runners. Unusual looking for a surf rod but I cannot argue with the results. Previously I would not have thought to use anything smaller than size 12 guides and would not even have consider this type guide system concept. Now I believe.

Okay, I'm a little confused here. When I sat in the Micro Guide rod seminar in High Point last February, I watched a demonstration designed to show a decrease in resonant frequency when guide size was decreased. Barry, you are saying that you saw an increase in resonance when your guides got smaller. Did I miss something in High Point, or am I missing something now?

I am talking about the sound of the line resonating in the smaller guides with that size mono. Not anything about resonant frequency of the rod.

Have you tested using an even smaller gathering guide then the "standard" 40? You switched from a 49H to a 50....I'd try going the rebel route and go smaller for the gathering guide, but thats only me thinking micro proportionate with a Cabo 50.

NERB that types with a bar of Ivory soap in his mouth.

Going smaller on the butt guide would push it even farther from the reel increasing line slap even more. I would have liked to have had a super high frame 40 or 30 but they do not make anything high enough to stay within a reasonable distance of a reel that large. The high frame surf 50 was the final choice not so much for the ring size but so I could keep it within 30" of the reel. Micro is fine on the running side of the choke guide but it is not going to cut the mustard on the reel side with line this large and stiff. I tried and it was terrible.

The best results came with the NGC and the suggested line path as outlined. The set up with the 40 casts almost as good as the one with the 50 but the line slapped the blank on the way out. So I went with the 50 to get the ring back a little closer to the reel. All is well.

If I could find an older HVSG40 that would be the perfect choice, but it would not match my other guides.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/10/2009 09:59AM by Barry Kneller.

I just built on a 10' 6" Breakaway Omega blank and my butt guide is a BYAG 30, approximately 36" from the spool. It's a little further than I would normally put it, but I was dealing with ferrule issues and after test casting it worked better than a 40 further back. I am using a VS 250 with 50# braid and it casts like a rocket. This is the layout.

Tip
BYAG 8 6"
BYAG 8 12"
BYAG 8 18"
BYAG 8 24"
BYAG 10 30.5"
BYAG 12 38.5"
BYAG 20 50"
BYAG 30 64"

Great blank BTW.

Tony

I'm not sure if there are still any ultra-high frame surf spinning guides being made. The HSVSG, which is what I think Barry meant, are perfect for butt guides on surf rods using large spinning reels. A 40 in that style is as high as a regular high frame 50, and the 30 is as high as a regular high frame 40.

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