So I'm building my first fly rod, and have not been able to find a lot regarding the proper guide placement and how to determine such. I'm building on an 8' 5-weight Lamiglas fiberglass blank; the guides are single-foot REC. Is there a formula akin to the New Concept system but for fly rods?

Easyest thing to do is look at say St Croixs spacing chart for a similar rod -- a start -- Then do a static test to determine where the guides should go

Check the library page for Static Testing [www.rodbuilding.org]

Bill - willierods.com

[www.google.com]

Walt,
I just went through the same thing. i.e. first fly rod.
I used the fly rod guide spacing for the weight rod that I was building. I put a piece of 1/8th inch tape at each spot indicated in the chart.

Then, I did some blank flexing, did a few very minor adjustments, taped on the guides, wrapped them, and then did a line through the test rod flexing test. Great.

So, I coated the rod and it just came off the dryer. I am sure the client will be well pleased.

Walt,
p.s.
Incidentally, the guide spacing was virtually identical to the guide spacing for a similar weight and action spinning rod.
I did a side by side comparison of the newly wrapped fly rod to a similar power and action spinning rod, and the guide spacings were virtually identical.

So, my conclusion is simply this. A rod is a rod with guides on it and basically the guides need to be located in similar locations to insure that the rod loads properly, no matter the fishing technique.


Be safe

That information is widely available, right here on this site. Here's two for starters:

[www.rodbuilding.org]

[www.rodbuilding.org]

...................

Roger is right, in that if you use a static deflection method to place guides, the placement would be very close for a fly rod or any other rod with the same type of flex. The one difference with a fly rod with respect to performance is that your guide placement process can lead to a large spacing between the 1st and 2nd stripping guide. This can be especially evident on fast action fly rods where the flex is primarily in the top 1/3 of the blank.

If the distance between the 1st and 2nd stripping guides is too great, then you can experience line droop and lose some distance when shooting line. You'll need to adjust the spacing between these guides to shorten the distance, or add a line taming guide at around 4" from the 1st stripping guide.

As I've stated in previous posts, the story pole method (another static deflection placement process) sort of exaggerates this. Any placement process that utilizes static deflection can result in the overly large spacing for the 1st 2 guides for a fast blank. Just be aware and adjust as needed.

Terry

Walt,

9-guide setup
Distance from rod tip

4.2 : 9.1 : 14.6 : 20.8 : 28.0 : 36.1 : 45.3 : 55.9 : 67.9


8-guide setup
Distance from tip

4.3 : 9.4 : 15.4 : 22.6 : 31.2 : 41.4 : 53.5 : 67.9

IMHO

then a ststic test and adjust the spacing

Bill - willierods.com

Thanks guys, much appreciated!