I am starting my first fly rod...it is a 8ft 3wt...and need some advice. Need some opinions on snake vs single foot guides. Also, any opinions on the recoil guides for fly rods is GREATLY appreciated.

Take'er Eazy
Andy Doc

By now I must sound like a broken record, but I only use REC Recoil s/f heavy wire guides on my fly rods. Never discolor/corrode in saltwater (you are not worried about that with your #3 - but it is a decided benefit anyway). The single s/f wrap & finish saves weight over the d/f snake wrap & finish saves weight.
BTW - I have weighed the s/f heavy wire Recoils vs d/f snake heavy wire Recoils and the s/f are lighter by a very small margin. But will amount to about 1/2 gram on the 8' blank.
Some say that the recoils "sing" when fly line is run through them - sometimes true - but only when the line is dry or dirty.
Regards,
Herb

Ditto on what Herb said about the REC's.

Good advice from Herb.
I utilize Recoil titanium guides as the top three guides on all my builds.
For 6 weight and under I use the single foot guides and 7 weight and up use the double foot guides. I just prefer the double foot guides if the tippet strength goes over 5#. I reserve the heavy wire Recoil guides for saltwater and builds over 10 weight.
Certain softer fly lines are apt to sing. The harder coated lines are a lot less prone.

Eugene Moore

I just rebuilt a 3 weight, bamboo rod. I have always used SF guides in the past (on bamboo and graphite rods), but on this rod I used H&H snakes, because I wanted a traditional look. I like the way the snakes look, and the only addtional weight is going to be from the extra wrap. How much that affects performance on this rod, I don't know. It's a small stream rod that will rarely be used beyond 25 or 30 feet, and at those distances it casts just fine. If I were building a graphite 3, I would probably opt for SF guides, just to get max performance from the graphite blank (snakes have the extra weight of an additional wrap and they allow the line to rub the blank). My current favorite SF's are the Pac Bay Minima F guides. Size 4 Minimas have an opening equivalent to most size 6 ceramics. I have never used the Recoils, but some folks on this board claim that the guides "sing", as Herb mentioned. Another thing I've heard is that Recoils will groove sooner than other guides.

George Forster
Fort Collins, CO

Herb -- why do you go for the heavy single foots vs the lite singles?

Any rod fly under a 4 wt I always put single foot wire. I am building my self a 3 wt on a 6'6 2 wt blank with the added 12" of a handle for it to be a fly/spin.

Bill - willierods.com

The Pacific Bay Minima guides offer the best of all worlds. Outstanding fly rod guides.

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

Jon,
Sorry, I should have been more specifis. I only build fly rods suitable for saltwater and heavy freshwater - 7wt -11wt - and the light wt would not be appropriate. Perhaps on a 3wt rod the light wt guides would be appropriate.
Herb

No problem, Herb.

As far as Recoils go, I have used the light-wire single foots on 3wts and below, light-wire double foot guides on 3wt and 4wts, and heavy double foots for 5wts. Even the heavy Recoils are pretty light themselves. I've got a 9'6" 4wt coming up in a few months that I'm looking at using heavy single foot Recoils on, maybe ... I have yet to try them myself.

From my experience, for an 8' 3wt rod with single foot guides, I'd go with light wire Recoils. If I wanted to go for double foots, it'd be a toss up for me between Recoils and Snakebrand. I'd recommend going with the single foot guides unless you really don't like how they look. I'll have to check out the Pac Bay Minima guides as I've seen Tom recommend them several times.