Want to build a bass spinning rod have a lot of hardloy blvlg . I plan on using braid line . On the good side of building this rod I think that I will be able to space the guides further apart because of the hight of the guides. The down side is they are heavier the braid may cut into the cheaper ring . There is also more wind resistance and may make casting a little less accurate. Im thinking of a 7 ft rod . . Thinking of a 10, 8 and run to the end with 6's . would appreciate your in put



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/15/2012 12:49PM by Maryann Cohen.

Braided line will not cut Hardloy rings.

I don't know of any guides that braided lines will cut.

Roger

Braided line will wear a groove into a guide. I have replaced quite a few tips lately for a guys that use braided line. Once the groove is there it will catch the line and over time fray the line until it breaks.

Judd S.

Like Judd, I think it's mostly a tip issue with todays guides. May want to splurge and get better tip?
Jeff

I'm new in rod building
but fishing a lot since i was kid in fresh and saltwater
since braided line introduce in our country most of angler want FUJI SIC in their rod
if you walk in fishing shop you can see rod without FUJI SIC tag on them have lowest sales rate
this because in their mind ,braid will cut everything except SIC from FUJI

I cant afford SIC rod. so i use oxide ring on both my offshore jigging rod and fresh water spinning/casting rod
both my rod is fine, nothing happen in the guide. in my mind if you not fish extreeme long runner like BFT or YFT tuna. braided will not cut anything
i think this is just marketing issue.rod with SIC guide is very expensive in here, tackle shop can have bigger margin in sales if they sell them
local manufactured rod with cheap blank from china can sale in high price if drees them with SIC

IMHO

Get online do a search. hardloy will handle braid very well. What I found SIC is recommended if you are using wire. But other than that Hardloy is fine. If you are still leary of hardloy use alconite. Both of these are quite a bit cheaper than SIC. As Jeff and Judd state most of your wear is on the tip.

Bruce

I have had the groove worn into "cheap" tiptops on store rods. i have never had a guide show that groove. So I use SIC or something close to it in hardness for the tiptops. And have never seen one groove yet. This strategy will add only a couple bucks to a build.

Maryann,

I take it your plan is to use up some components in the shop. If that is the case, then it sounds like a god plan. Those V frame guides will work just as well as they did in years past. With that said, with the current options available in guide designs, they would be toward the bottom of my list for a set of guides on a bass casting rod.

Are you planning to use a round reel, or low profile reel? With the narrow spools in most low profile reels today, there isn't a whole lot of need to use a butt guide with a ring much larger than 6-8mm. If it were me, I would probably drop the 10mm guide, unless I was building for a round reel with a wide spool. In that case, I might consider going with a 10-12mm guide for the butt guide.

As far as ring material in the guides or tip top, I wouldn't fuss over it on a personal rod. Most of my personal rods have flaws that I either left or intentionally made, just to see what may happen over time. I have guides with tunnels left unfilled. A couple guides that came loose and are rewrapped with nothing more than water based cp to finish the wraps, etc. My rods might not be the prettiest rods out there, but I've learned a lot from them. I would rather learn a lesson in rod repair or design/material choice from a personal rod than from a rod that I give to someone else. When a rod leaves my shop in the hands of someone else whether it be friend, family, or someone else, I pay much more attention to detail, and have a better idea of which mistakes are critical, and which ones are livable (if they don't show to the end user).

Joe

For the amount of time that it takes to build a custom rod, I would NEVER use cheap guides. Why waste your time. I can go to the store and buy those rods for 30 bucks.

I have the BSVLG double foot version of those guides on an oversized sturgeon/saltwater rod that have had braid used on it since 1994, nary a mark on them. 2 years of everyday saltwater use in the Coast Guard when on drug patrols in Florida did little damage to them either.