Hi all,

For those who may not know, American Tackle has partnered up with Doug Hannon to work on expanding his Micro Wave guide theory into a complete system.
Countless hours were spent developing and testing various guide designs to find the best combination of guides to deliver all the benefits possible. Using hand-made prototypes we built rods for exhaustive casting exercises, fishing in the field & even stopping everybody that happened by to say, “Hey do me a favor and cast this rod”. We also met with designers, factory engineers, material suppliers and the talented tool makers to make the impossible, possible.

Moving ahead to July, ICAST 2012, American Tackle introduced this new system to the trade. We took 8 identical rods made with cone of flight, new guide concept & the MicroWave guide trains for casting demonstrations comparing the 3 popular configurations. Combining individual comparisons with ICAST & IFTD demos we have had close to 300 casters unanimously experience instant improvement using the MicroWave system rods.

TODAY, Sept. 19, 2012, with the MicroWave Line Control System complete and Bass Professor approved, we have product in stock and have begun shipping orders.
We hope you contact one of the suppliers to the left that carry our products to try a set for yourself. We think you’ll be impressed…
For more information please check our web site at:

[www.americantackle.us]

Best Regards,

Darrin Heim
American Tackle Company

what material you use for the inside?
and how about formulation for locating the stripper?

Hi Ernest,

These guides are available in both Duralite and Nanolite rings.

Regarding stripper guide location, check out the page in the MicroWave Guide section of our web site titled "Spacing". We give suggestions for placement of the stripping, transition & first running guides. We also give suggestions for entire set placements as well. We did have some of our testers claim they improved results by making some adjustments but we found solid results using what we published.

Our goal is to offer a complete system that if used as directed, will outperform everything else available, which it absolutely does. There is simply nothing else out there as efficient and effect as the MicroWave Line Control System.

Best Regards,

Darrin Heim
American Tackle Company

I'm trying to decide whether I should use Mason monofilament for its abrasion resistance, Maxima monofilament for its handling qualities, fluorocarbon for its transparency, or gel-spun polyethylene braid for its tensile strength. Which one does micro wave guides work best with?

I was at iCast and actually casted with this guide set. All I can say is that this will differentiate your custom rods from anything else that your customers have seen. Accurate casting, less fatigue, longer distance -- spool up with yellow braid on identical rods/reels (other than the guides) and you will quickly see and feel the difference. Ordering my sets now.

Hi Phil,

We have a MicroWave, question and answer page on the web site as well. A popular question is about line which is why it's included. We tested the system using everything from stiff monos etc. to various braids. There's an interesting story in this week's newsletter which is also on our web site (if not yet then it will be shortly). It is testimony specifically about using fluorocarbon.

Charles, thank you for coming by and test casting. I took criticism from Joe about forcing everyone I could into casting the rods, told them I am sure they can spare 5 minutes out of their life to take a couple of casts. Glad I did because everyone from rod designers & bass pros to maintenance personnel & NFL players were blown away by the demos. Thank you for the endorsement as well. Hopefully builders will buy a set or two or three, to try for themselves.

Best Regards,

Darrin Heim
American Tackle Company

Hi Darrin

Very interesting stuff there.Will the guides be coming out in titanium frame or your equivalent and do you have to buy the whole
set or can you buy the stripper seperately.I would of spared 5 minutes of my life for a cast.

cheers

Ray Balmforth
Figtree
NSW
Australia

Hello Ray,

At present, only the stainless frames are available. I can’t say for sure on the titanium frame future, although we are known as the titanium guide company….. Several companies have taken our lead on expanding titanium offerings, but this project focuses on “line control”. Controlling & managing line efficiently is the ultimate performance goal for line guides. This MicroWave system masters line control with nothing else even close to it.

To utilize this system you must purchase the entire set of 9 guides. Extra running guides are available separately for longer rods.

Too bad you weren't at ICAST, I would have gladly taken your 5 minutes. Hope you give them a go.

Best Regards,

Darrin Heim
American Tackle Company

Have you tried smaller guides in the tip section?

If anyone needs a set of these guides, I ordered a couple of sets of black & chrome in NAnolite and duralite which arrive today. I have a set of these guides on a Bushido Warrior 7'3 Mag Bass rod which I have used with a Diawa Tierra 2000, the thing I like best is how well the line lays on the reel when using a light lure, especailly when it's windy. Everyone focuses on asting distance, but fo rme, using braided line with a light lure and especailly wind causes the line to lay on teh spool loose. With the MW guides, teh line lays on teh spool much better due to teh line not "bubbling" out due to a large size guide placed very far away from teh reel.

If anyone wants to place an order for a set of these, xlrods@yahoo.com is my e-mail (I do not have this product listed on my site yet, I will give you the price via e-mail)

Hi Spencer,

The running guides utilize 5mm rings which performed extremely well. Using 4mm or even 3mm ring guides will work but didn't present improvement over our designed set. We considered many different combinations of sizing but first and foremost we needed to create a product that delivers the benefits mentioned. At the same time we needed to fit accepted practice. The 5mm rings are a step above the "micro" devotees preference but smaller than the mainstream 6mm guide usage which there are still vastly more rods offered with 6mm rings than Micro oriented rods. These guides will split the difference while presenting a superior product.

Billy brought to my mind a good point. Point being, there is quite a large list of additional benefits to this system but we focus primarily on the more prominent advantages of "Line Control".

Best Regards,

Darrin Heim
American Tackle Company

Are the stripper guide in these the same dimension as the 'old' microwaves? I think they were a 30/7 plus 7 tamer.
Are they lighter?

Hi Lou,

No they differ in several ways, but the theory behind them remains the same. The original is a 30/8 and this system utilizes an elevated 20/6 plus a few other adjusted dimensions as well. We also included it into its own complete guide train. As I said the theory and principles are the same which means there are many combinations possible for all sorts of different rod styles.

Best Regards,

Darrin Heim
American Tackle Company

Great, i have half a dozen builds with the old 30/8 mix and was wanting a highframe 20/6 also a highframe 40/10 or 40 /8 too for pier and beach use.
Thanks

I took measurements and weighed the guide sets. The stripper hieght is 40mm, teh guide set weighs .190 ounces.

Guys

This principle isn't new as these guides look to have been developed from a funnel shaped guide experimented with in England in the 1970's by Don Neish in Angling magazine and later in the 1980's by John Holden.

Tim

Hi Tim,

Unfortunately, I am not familiar with these gentlemen or their experimentation.

I will say this though.

The principle of attempting to control line using some sort of funnel concept isn’t new, the MicroWave system is just the best design to be developed yet. The cone of flight is basically a funnel system that spans the length of a rod. This system changes the length of it from measuring in feet to millimeters. I’ve seen multiple attempts at figuring out how to accomplish this including multiple guides (whether 2 or 10) as well an actual metal funnel. All of which are nowhere near as effective as this system for a variety of reasons. Not to mention, nobody ever figured out how to do this using a single stamped frame design.

In my opinion this is quite remarkable and unique. It’s such an incredible concept that had it been mastered years/decades ago we would all probably all be using some variation of it now.

Respectfully,

Darrin Heim
American Tackle Company