Never have so many tried so hard to to help with such little success in my understanding what the heck is going on. Not your problem, mine.
I do use a chopped off reel foot, but then just sight down the blank from it, tie on the guides, do whatever adjustment is necessary before applying finish (by eye-my corrective lens work well and better than any other method I've tried). I only have one rod I've done where now I ask how the heck did I miss that?

Maybe you were trying to hard and working to fast I have and then had to do over

I do just like you Look down with the bottom section of the feet of a reel Of course a cheep one
I also use it with a V cut in the top and lay line in to alian for spiral rods Could just use the reel but if I don't have it just ask what reel they will use Look it up then figure how the line comes off it for the height of the line

Bill - willierods.com

I have a wooden fixture that holds a deck plate off of a penn conventional reel which when put into a reel seat will hold the rod straight or level for putting guides on i use a over head light that shines to shows the top of the ridge of the blank. I turn the rod over to put the tip on because i found it was easy to line it up from the back.

Michael, what is it you don't understand that is going on?

I love it

There are so many different ways for builders to figure out how to do ( the same thing ) And each are as good as the next

Bill - willierods.com

Okay, the line level got me, i did not understand you were just using the level itself from a line level.

I mount a conventional reel to the seat and just lay a 12" level side to side across the frame and align the seat to the tip to make sure they are in alignment with each other, and then I set it aside until the seat epoxy cures. After that, the reel is removed and guides are aligned to the tip.

Michael,
It took me a while to get with this program as well.

Several of the builders who wrote about the use of a chopped off reel seat and a line level, are essentially using these two things to get the rod blank rotated so that the top side of the rod blank is at exactly 0 degrees.

They do this by having the line level at 90 degrees to the vertical reel seat post.

Now, if you have the rod in v blocks or rod rests, you lock the rod in this configuration. Then, all that you have to do, is to either mark, or simply align each of the guides so that the top of the guide falls on the 0 degree mark that you can place on the top of the blank, down the length of the blank.

I personally do about the same thing. I site down the guide side of the blank with the use of a reel, or with the use of a reel post and then, use a piece of tape a few inches long to mark the 0 degree centerline of the blank. By having the 0 degree reference 1/2 way down the blank, it is pretty easy to align each guide to that 0 degree center line.

Then, after everything has been wrapped, a final sighting down both the guide side of the blank, as well as the non guide side of the blank, using a lot of light against a light background to verify that all guides are on the same line.

Take care

Thank you I got it now, thanks for the replys . I will give them all a try!

BTW, you can just use a conventional reel. Wider the spool the better. Assuming bench isn't warped just put it in reel seat and lay the reel frame on the table. Top and bottom of blank are now...well....at top and bottom:)

Also find the glare line from a flourescent light is one more tool at your disposal.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.