Wanting to build a NGC spinning rod but wondering if the fuji guides are a requirement to succeed with this style/concept?

Andrew
Port Orchard, WA
The Pacific Northwest

No.

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Thanks Tom.

What are the differences between a $40 butt guide and $5 one? Weight? and Line friction?

I'm building a salmon rod with a st croix 8-17# spinning blank for use in the puget sound casting from the beach. Any ideas? Is this a good blank for that purpose? Btw this is my first rod building attempt ha

Andrew
Port Orchard, WA
The Pacific Northwest

Sometimes weight, usually ring and/or frame material.

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Andrew,
Actually a butt guide on most rods would work just fine with a stainless steel ring with no ceramic or other insert.
Relative to the other guides on the rods, there is very little force and its ensuing wear on the guides.

Especially, if this is your first rod building attempt, I would certainly put very inexpensive guides on the rod. You will find that you will have made mistakes and or would like to make changes later.

Just consider your first rod a practice rod. Do the best job you can, ask for help if you need to; but don't make the mistake of using a very expensive blank and components on your first rod build.

Take care
Roger

Roger great idea! I didn't think of that! I am looking at getting the fuji harloy guides now.
What do you think about those?

Still going with the st croix. I want it to be quality even if my guides aren't lined up haha.

Andrew
Port Orchard, WA
The Pacific Northwest

I have rods I use frequently that I built with the Fuji Hardaloy guides 20 years ago. I have not yet needed to replace one because the guide failed.
They offer a good compromise between weight, cost, durability, etc. I wouldn't hesitate to use them.

Like Gary said

You could also take a look at American Tackles A frame ring lock guides with the duralight ring.

It's a wonderful compromise with a lightweight newer style guide, just a little lower end ring insert. Should be right on par with the hardloys. I'm also not big on that purply grayish color of hardloy inserts, but of course that is all personal opinion at that point.

I should say that no matter which guide you choose, about 95% of them on the market are very very good guides and you will have no issues with whichever you decide on. I definitely agree to stay with a low to mid-tier guide for your first build.

Sean,
I agree with your recommendation. i.e. There are other very nice inexpensive guides on the market that have a much cleaner and nicer look than the Hardaloy guides.

Take care
Roger

Thanks Sean,

My first rod is for my girlfriend so its going to be purple and black. Found the hardaloy guides and she fell in love.

Just looked at the A-frames they are a lot classier i guess ill have to "order the wrong ones" for her.

Thank you all for the great advice. I am sure i will come up with lots more questions.

ill take photos throughout the process.

Andrew
Port Orchard, WA
The Pacific Northwest

Andrew,
A lot of great answers to your question.
But, remember, -- no question is stupid!!

It is never out of date to ask a reasonable question to expand your knowledge base.

Take care
Roger

I agree there is no stupid question. On this site there are a lot of great answers, so don't hesitate to use the search function. Regarding guides, I think a lot of guys on this site, looking to achieve the ultimate in quality, lowest mass, maximum sensitivity, etc, go way beyond what most people would consider "quality." I agree with a previous comment on starting with inexpensive stuff on first builds then working up as you learn and get better at workmanship. Every rod I make has at least one thing about it that I either wish I would have done differently or feel I didn't execute it quite well enough, and I've made a lot of rods. The learning curve will be very steep in the beginning and then will flatten. I recently rebuilt one of my early builds because it had so many things I didn't like about it.

Speaking of curves, the quality/cost curve is very steep at first, then as you pay more and more, the curve flattens out and your added dollars get less and less in return. This is true of blanks as well as guides. You can get some pretty nice stuff for reasonable cost, and in my opinion, that is where to start.

One last guide comment, I have a lot of cheap store-bought rods that I still use in Canada-they get beaten around a crowded, small, boat, and I don't want to take my good stuff. They have had a lot of use, and probably many of them have Hardloy or equivalent rings, and I have never had a guide either break, get grooved, or had a ring crack (unless I stepped on it). I have had a couple tip tops groove and have had one crack (line gets scuffed up and feels wrong going through), so if you want to put your money in the best spot on guides/tiptop, buy a harder ring tiptop but keep the Hardloy guides. will cost only a couple of bucks extra and will upgrade the most likely to fail.