I have never built a salt water and have some questions. What size thread D,A or B, do I under wrap and how do I determine the size of the guides? I don't salt water fish but have friends that do. I will have more questions but this will give me some place to start. Phil

Phil,

Could you give us more detail on the type of salt water rod?

Off shore?
Jigging?
Trolling?

Shore?
Bait casting?
Plugging?

Thread comes in many sizes. A, B, C, D, E, EE.

Don Becker

These are the questions I need to ask the person I am building for. I don't even know what questions to ask except line weight, lure weight, length, spinning or casting. I think it will be a jigging rod but I don't know for sure. All these rods seem to be purpose built and I know nothing about salt water equipment. I guess I need to know what questions to ask and a basis to start. I will have more questions as I go. Thanks Phil

Mudhole and GetBitOutdoors both have the intended use on the blank descriptions. If will be different if you're talking inshore, offshore, beach/surf, pier, casting, jigging, trolling, live bait, etc. Will they be fishing for 150 lb tuna or speckled trout?

A word about thread from something I read. Size a for example will have a lesser breaking tension than size d. However, you will get more passes of size a per given length of guide foot than size d. So it should be relatively similar between using various size threads. As always, experts step in and correct me if I'm wrong.

I always underbind with size A thread. Strength is irrelevant here as it's not binding the guide on. Also, the thinner thread underneath helps a larger grade thread lay on top. While you can overbind in A as well, I always go thicker, usually C. Guide selection and size will depend on the type of rod and rating etc. so until you know that you are flying blind. For example if it's a spinning rod with a Daiwa Saltiga 6500 size reel the stripper guide will be a size 40. A 3500 size Daiwa spin reel and the stripper is a size 25. So a big range to start out.
Let us know when you have more information.