I am building a 8.5 ft spinning rod with a stella 20k. Spool diameter of 2.9 inches times 27 makes the choke guide at 78 inches which is only 3 inches from the tip. Fuji MNSG 40 is about 2.5 inches tall and guide placement falls at 40 inches from reel spool. Too much in my opinion. I know placements are approximate only but how much fudge room do i I have? At 30 inches I have 3 inches space and at 25 inches I have 3.5 inches to cover. Size 40 is the largest guide that I have and it is only 2.5 inches in height. I know that I have to compromise but what would you say is the range in placement of that first guide? Is 25 inches from the reel spool too close or is 30 inches too far? For certain 35 to 40 is too far in my opinion and I don't have the option of a bigger guide. Any help or opinions would be greatfully appreciated. Thanks.

Where the tip is doesn't matter. There is no specified distance from the choker guide to the tip, only from the reel spool to the choker guide. Completely forget about the distance from choker to the tip. It doesn't matter.

That's a pretty good sized reel. I would steer you towards a higher framed guide rather than the MNSG. If you can find one to your liking. What line size and type are you using? If you're using braid, or a light supple mono, you can easily get away with a smaller ring guide (shoot for a higher frame) than a #40. Depending on the line type, I'd generally try to keep the butt guide at 25 inches or less from the reel.

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Hi Tom
This blank is rated 80 lb line and is for casting large poppers to tuna. I need a strong guide and already have the mnsg on hand but could change if you can suggest a high frame guide that would work . Plan to fill the reel with 80 hollow spectra and a very short fluorocarbon top shot that will be past the tip when casting ...probably only 6 ft long.

I can't keep up with all the various guide types around these days but I'd look for a high frame spinning model rather than a high frame casting model (I know some people do use the MNSG for spinning). An SVSG perhaps? That might get you a little more height.


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The KW series offers a double foot guide that is higher then the MSNG. They also have a size 50. Here is the link for the handy/dandy chart.

[anglersresource.net]

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

Thanks so very much for all the responses. I am going to order the KW guides with the SIC rings. Thanks again.

You will find most high level factory rods for this type of work use MNSGs as they are considered stronger than the K series. This came up recently on another forum and at least one rep from a highly regarded company said they do this and only use K guides in the lighter line classes.

I'm no expert on the strength issues, but have built a lot of 27X and often have found that I need a first guide from one series of guides to get the height, then use lower guides for the rest of the transition guides. (Like a Y then V's) With smaller reels that is often only three guides; I expect you will need more. You are in essence doing a cone of flight system leading to one running guide. You probably need to do a lot of test casting.

In the COF system, the guide rings have to be very, very large in order to match the entire "cone" of line coming off the reel all the way around, not just height-wise. This is why the NGC in any version isn't really very similar to the COF.

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One comment/observation. I am very new here and I am just building my first rod but I too am using the NGC system. After re-reading the article that is often posted around here to explain the ngc system, I verified my initial suspicion: the lip spool should be measured in Milimeters, and then multiplied by 27 in order to find the distance in Milimeters from the spool face to the choker guide.

Perhaps this is why your initial measurement are off. If not sorry for interrupting, just trying to help.

Carlos

And then that can be changed into inches with a chart found on the internet

Bill - willierods.com