I’m wondering how many guys have tried out the new Microwave Guides and what the impressions are. It’s been a month or so since I built with a set of them….or I should say a partial set, since I only used the double ringed butt guide, the “tall” 6mm and one of the 5’s for the third guide. I was pleasantly surprised as to how well they performed. It’s unfortunate that the guides aren’t available for sale individually as many rod builders probably won’t spring for the whole set just to give them a try…..especially since there are those like myself that lean toward much smaller/lighter running guides. Hopefully, at some point Amtak will reconsider offering them individually, which may encourage more builders to try them. I would think that if they caught on with custom builders, they’d get more exposure in the rod market, much the same as “no-foregrips”, “split grips/seats” and “micro guides”. For some reason the current marketing “hype” for the microwaves seems to lead to the opinion that it’s just another “gimmick”. I suppose there is always the possibility that someone else will come up with another “version”….patent or not (The “Alabama Rig” clones comes to mind).

I agree that they should be offers individually. I don't care for the looks of the rest of the set and would much rather use different running guides. I just finished my build with them and really enjoyes the smoothness of the cast. Not sure I got any more distance, but the cast did feel good.

You guys do know you CAN buy the individual guide in a 30 ring size from swampland?

Yup, too big.

Built 6 or so with them so far. I'm sold on them I honestly feel my rods perform better, super smooth and they actually make my rods stand out from the crowd. All the feedback from my customers has been really positive. Good on Amtak and Doug for such a great product.

Mark,
I build lots and lots of rods with a first size 30 guide on the rods. They work especially well when folks are using mono line in 15 to 30 lb test. Some of these lines are rather kinky, and the larger guide tames down the line very well with minimum drag.

Sure, if you are using light braid, or light mono - no need for that size guide. But for the right rod, and line - this size guide really makes the rod a great performer.

Roger

I guess i am going against the stream : i would like ones bigger than the 30 maybe a 40/8 and/or 50 /10 on a high frame. For 6000 to 10000 and then 8000 thru 18000 size reels.

Low,
Absolutely, use the guide sizes that you need for the applications that you are going to be using the fishing rod for.

I suspect that many of the folks that tend to use very small guides have a very specific use, client, and fish in mind when they build the rods.
I also suspect that most of these rods, in fact - work perfectly for those particular clients, uses, and fishing needs.

But has been posted my many other folks in many other venues, build a rod to meet the needs of the client, the type rod and reel to be used on the rod, and the fish that are going to be caught with the rod in question.

Be safe
Roger

Hi Guys,

There is still much debate on offering the guides individually. We discovered with all the testing we've done, it is really easy to screw this up. We thought there would be wild deviations from what we have found to be the best configuration.

We have people coming to us saying this system doesn't work and upon further investigation they have changed it. The most common is they didn't follow our guide layout or they didn't feel the need to include the transition guide.

Our intent is to make sure the customer gets the best performance possible. There may be some guys that find better configurations out there. We hope they do and send the info along to us so we can test it. For now however this is the finest spinning system ever devised and we want to make sure it isn’t compromised.

You will be happy to know we just sent off the drawings for prototyping of a casting version. We are also in the midst of testing a spinning version in a 40/12 30/10. Our initial findings are suggesting we may have to use smaller secondary guides to maximize the performance. We shall see however it may be the layouts just need a little tweaking.

This is why we do exhaustive testing before releasing the product. We want to make sure it all works and selling in sets allows us to insure the utmost in results.

Hi Joe,

Excellent new about the casting versions, what sort of lead time does it usually take to go from prototype through testing to market?

Regards
Mark Newcombe
Old Bar NSW
Australia

Hi Mark,

We are one of the quickest at 60 to 90 days as long as there are no multi-redesigns. They will be single foot with a very strong frame design. Joe

Looking forward to the 40/10 & 30/10's for surf rods and heavier 7' saltwater layouts. Just guessing the transition guides and perhaps the running guides will also have to change to higher frames for the transition guide and perhaps 6mm for running guides. Thank you for continuing to bring high-end innovative products to the hands of the builders

Hi Ken, Yes the transition and running guides will be larger higher, and stronger to handle inshore, offshore Carp and surf fishing. We just hope the new smaller guide trains will be accepted. We've decided to build it not for "tradition" but for performance which requires smaller rings. The smaller guide rings will be stronger than traditional frames of the same size but will not reflect current nominal guide trains. We hope they will be commercially viable. Knot clearance is the concern but how much ID do you need for an albright on modern braids and florocarbons? We shall see. We will test and put the product out that works best and let the chips fall where they may. This system works best with the smallest rings possible which presents challenges in heavy FW & SW. People are still building rods like they did back in the 70's. Rod technology is finally catching up with line technology. Guides trains are changing to maximize the performance of the new lines available and the MW guide system takes it to a whole new level.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/07/2012 03:36AM by Joe Meehan American Tackle.

HI Joe,

I just re-wrapped an old 7 ft. spinning rod I was going to scrap and when I took it to the lake to show it off, the guys all laughed at the rod, so I made a bet with 3 of the guys that laughed at me,. The bet ,I could out cast ( distance)them 3 out of 4 times. Same rod( 7 ft. med. 10# mono spinning 1/4 oz.). I won ,and sold the rod to one of guys. now I have the money to buy 3 sets of you'r microwave Guide sets.. they lived up to all you said about them . I wish you could keep them available only to the Custom Builder.I find it hard to compete with the Commercial Builder,these guides would give us a bit of an edge. O well I can dream can't I. keep up the good work, thank you.

What is life without fishing ?

I am considering building a rod with the new guide setup. Watched the various videos of the line leaving the spool and going through the guides.
Very large loops are apparent before the line goes through the guides. I think mono was used in these tests. For the last few years I have been using braid on all my spinning outfits. Since it much limper and thinner than mono and the fact that it casts much further, I would think that it flows through the guides easier with less coiling interference..
Has anyone did any testing of the new guides using braid? Is there a significant difference in casting distance?