A friend wants me to build him a rod with recoil guides it will be a casting rod 8'6".I would think recoil sizing would be larger than a ceramic guide correct? What would you guys use for sizes?I normally start with a 12 and bump it down to 6 running guides.

I typically build much shorter rods at 6'6" but have started with a size 12 and finished with size 6's using flexlite guides from janns. Hope that helps.

I've got a lot of customs with Recoils on them. The spinning (single footed) running guides sit especially low on the blank and seem one size smaller than standard guides...for those I would definately size up one size. If you're using double footed recoils all the way up, which I prefer they are much more sturdy, the size difference isn't as noticable there. But I still would go with 7's I just like the way they fish and look better.