So I'm still working on my 6' ultralight spinning rod. In the course of using the Static Guide Placement method, along with the New Guide Concept, I ended up putting 8 guides on the rod in order to get the line to follow the blank's curve under load. There was more moving of guides than I expected. Also, in one area, the distance between guides shrank. The first guide from the tip is 4" back, next is 4 and 1/8", followed by two that are 5" back from each other. So far, as expected; however, the next guide then came 4 and 1/2" further down, which struck me as odd. The first butt guide then comes 6 and 1/2" further down, and lastly, the final butt guide is 11" from that. Because the tiptop is SiC, and the next 4 guides are fly guides, followed by 3 more SiC guides, the rod actually feels as light as my 5' GL3 factory ultralight even with the extra length and guides. So the rod looks a little funny, but it seems to be functional.

Is this a normal thing when using the static guide placement? Is it acceptable? Or should I try to find a guide placement that is more conventional?

Thanks,
Ken

How are you doing the static testing? Are you loading the line which you have strung through the guides? Or simply loading the tip of the rod and allowing the rod to take its natural and preferred flex?

...............

I had the rod loaded from the tip with a little baggy of quarters for weight, it hung from a section of line and a hook attached to the tip. Then I ran the line I wanted to use through the guides, with a little weight on the end to keep the line taut, but not a lot of weight.

Ken Tong Wrote:
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> I had the rod loaded from the tip with a little
> baggy of quarters for weight, it hung from a
> section of line and a hook attached to the tip.
> Then I ran the line I wanted to use through the
> guides, with a little weight on the end to keep
> the line taut, but not a lot of weight.
We might not be able to help you as most of us only have bags of pennies. ;-)

Ken,
It sounds like you are about right except for the lower guides as you pointed out.
I might just suggest that you go with your 4, 4& 1/18th and 5 inch spacing for the first three guides.

Then, try a 6, 7, and 9 inch spacing for a total of 6 guides. ( Or possibly 6, 8, 11 inches - if you need the butt guide closer to the handle.

Just tape on the last three in these locations and see how they work out. For most of my spinning guides, I generally have the first or butt guide at about 20 inches from the face of the reel.

I would be suprised if you really need more than 6 guides for a rod of this length.

Roger

Okay, you're on the right track. I suspect you'll need 7 or 8 guides plus a tiptop to do this. Now here's something you can try - going with the NGC article on the library page here, try equi-distant spacing for all the guides beyond the choker guide. Just take that space and divvy it up between what I suspect will be about 5 guides. Try it and see what you think.

..............

I just finished one 6 foot ultralite and had 8 guides on it. The first guide is at 3 inchs next 4 then 4 1/2 then 5 and so on it loads great and is a blast to fish with on opening day trout fishing March 1 here in Missouri. Done anothe blank 6 foot used the Morton chart it came out with 11 guides did not like it like the 8 guided rod.

march 1, Gee here in jersey we got to wait till April 15 And it is usually still cold as a bandit

Bill - willierods.com

The cold is only subjective to amount of fish caught, or not caught.

I trust the static guide placement, even if it does throw in some odd spacing, I make sure the rod looks good when loaded from the tip with the line held taught with just a little bit of weight. They fish well and I have not had any problems with mine that come outwith odd spacing. It's like I explain to the guys I build ice rods for, the guides don't look right at this moment, but when you get a fish on, it handles the line the way it should.

The 5" spacing was what I started out with...once the rod was under load, I moved the guides...and that was what I ended up with...