I built a rod this summer a Batson sxw76ml which they don't make any more. It stinks my favorite rod. I would like too change the reduction guides to higher and small ones to bklag high frames so the location would not be the same as the guides removed. I can't see how i could do this without damaging the finish of the blank. Any thoughts on this would be big help

One thing that you can do, is to remove all of the finish on the rod, and just leave a matte finish on the rod as some of the very best rods use.

It doesn't take long to strip a blank down to the bare blank and give it a nice matte finish.

By the way, if your location on the original guide train was good, there is no real reason to change the position of the guides, even if you change the size of the guides.

Just take off your current guides, and tape the new guides back on the blank in the same spot and see how the rod loads and casts. If it loads and casts well just rewrap the guides in the same location.

Be safe

The rod cast good just messed up on the new concept system. I lined up my straight edge to the center of the guide ring and not to the top of the guide.

Don't be in too much of a hurry to change it for the small deviation. While it may well cast better (less guide weight) if you re-space and re-size things, the difference may be slight enough that it's not worth the trouble to change everything out.

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If the rod cast well, just put on the other guides in the same position and see how it works for you.


Or, if the rod cast well, why do you even want to do anything to the rod?

As the saying goes, if it isn't broken, don't fix it.

Be safe

You may just have a better performing rod
I some times have the line path go into the ring
Common sense telling me that as the line comes off the reel face and gravity pulls on it And I have seem vidios of line folding onto the bottom of the ring Spinning as Fished It will rub more and having the line go into the ring should give less friction

Bill - willierods.com