Hey
I am trying to decide between 4 or 5 guides including the tip, it is a 24 inch ultra light blank. The guide sizes I chose are 16-8-6-6(tip), if I use 5 guides I thought about adding another 6. If I understand right, guide spacing will be determined by placing the rod under a load. The larger rear guide is placed where the rod just begins to bend, from there I should move the guides to give me the best even bend. Since I have the put the rod under a load does this mean I put the tip on first and then move to the larger rear guide?


Jonathan Yergin

P.S. Does metallic thread wrap need color preserver?

I started with 3 guides and the tip top. I taped them down, put on a reel, flexed the rod and moved them accordingly to the load. I only used three guides plus the tip top. It seemed fine to me and my buddy has no complaints. I'm not sure that's the best method. Maybe some guys with more experience can make some suggestions.
Bruce

I just finished (2) 22" rods and I did a 20, 10, 6, 6 and tip and a 16, 10, 6, 6 tip first guide was 2.75 from the tip then progressive from there. Last guide was 8" from top of the reel. Hope it helps a little.

all my rods i build i do 12 10 8 66 or if its an outside rod its 12 10 8 8 8 for five guides but i just drop one if i do anything shorter for four guides its 12 10 8 6 or 12 10 8 8

All of the comments are right on and will work well
Choose the guide size that suits you as well as whether the rod will be used indoors or outdoors. If the rod is to be used outdoors, use larger guides to minimize ice problems.

Remember, most full size rods have a distance of about 20 inches from the reel to the first guide.
So, even if using a small reel, you still need a reasonable distance to the first guide. If you don't have the first guide far enough from the reel, you will have too sharp an angle of the line to the first guide and give the rod user a herky jerky motion when retreiving a loaded line or reeling in a fish.

You have it about right, to put the first guide at the point where the blank begans to make a significant change in diamter that causes a change in blank stiffness. Then, simply place the other guides as needed on down the rod blank to the tip.

For short rods - like a 22 inch, I figure that the first guide will be about 10 inches from end of the reel. So, if the handle is 5 inches long, you are left with 17 inches. Then, if you place the first guide at 10 inches from the front of the reel, you are at 7 inches from the tip.
So, depending on the flex of the rod you normally only need 1-2 added guides for a nice rod action. You are talking about placing 2 guides in 7 inches or at 3 1/2 inch spacing.

For my heavy action outside rods, I use 16, 10, and 8 to the tip which is also 8 to the tip for the longer rods that I make.
For shorter rods, with lighter actions, I use a 16,10, 8 and 7 to the 7 tip.
For inside rods, I will use a 12, 8, and 6 to the 6 tips.

Remember, for ice fishing, you are always concerned about icing - even when indoors. So, don't go too small on the guides. You also don't cast these rods, so the casting effect is 0. But you want a smooth handling rod, so do not put the first guide either too small or too close to the reel face. If you want to go closer and or smaller to the reel face, go with a match style very tall guide, so that you do not get into the steep angle of line to reel that causes reeling problems. If you go to a match guide, you can go as close a 8 inches to the reel face, and likely down to a size 10 for the first guide.

Good luck
Roger

I had one complaint about the tip not being large enough, but the running guides being too large by allowing ice on the line to reach back to the reel....something to think about. I've been using size 10 tips and running guides on all my customers rods. Some of my rods have size 8 running guides and tips. The shortest rod I've built this year has been 30 inches though, bunch of 40" blanks and even a few in the 46" range.

I am using Pac Bay minima-4 hard chrome guides. My handles over all length is 6.25in giving me a blank length of 17.75 inches in which to place my guides. If I start with a match guide does that mean I have to use match guides all the way down the rod?

Thanks,
Jonathan Yergin