Assuming we are talking about a casting rod with conventional guides on top set up, is it better to use a higher frame series of guides and get by with less guides, or to use lower frame guides to reduce torque but have to use a lot more guides? Is one going to end up better than the other? Tradeoffs to each? Cannot get my head around which one would win out against the other overall. I would be talking about any casting rod where you are going to be casting and fishing, not trolling.

I don't get too concerned about line touching the blank on a bass rod or other app. where the fish aren't making long hard runs. I use the lightest guide train I can being sure the line doesn't bow below the blank in a deep bend. I use a lot of BLAG and such guides.

I would tend to go for less weight. However, while that might seem to indicate the higher frame guides and less of them, modern guides have gotten so very light that I think you can have a fair amount of the best of both worlds with lower frame guides, even though you may have to use a few more of them. If you can arrive at a situation where you have the same weight (that you would if you had used the higher frame and heavier guides), with less lever arm effect of the lower guides, then I'd go that route.

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Rods get bounced around in a boat and during transportation. Durability becomes an issue, and the farther a guide protrudes from the blank the more susceptible it is to breaking or bending.

A larger casting reel,, go with a size 16 first guide, medium a 12, and low frame you can go with a 10. No need to go with a high frame guide on a casting rod, unless it is a long rod designed for surf fishing, then you might go with a taller guide to accomocate the line coming off a larger reel.