And a glorious, good day to all you happy wrappers, and a previous thank you for those responding.
This is only my third post as I am new to wrapping yet a long time (OK, old) fisherman. I have built one ultralight trout spinning rod, one 10-30 lb Black Diamond Hybrid bait casting saltwater rod, restored two other saltwater rods, as well as numerous guide replacements for friends when they learned I could.
Please help! I am finding difficulty locating lightweight, inexpensive stainless spinning guides with the thin stainless inserts as found on several "economy", store-bought rods such as the Eagle Claw Featherlight series and the ultralight trout rod I purchased from Cab#%@s. I love those guides because they get the job done with minimal weight and have never had one groove or fail. Granted, the guides are used in the High Sierra or Rockies' pristinely clear streams and lakes without any grit in the water and they never see braided line, only mono or fluorcarcon. I'll stay with Alconite or better for everything else though.

Any insight or referrals as to where I can purchase stainless guides with stainless inserts?
Thank you to all who have responded to my previous posts to assist my new pursuit, although my wife might have other remarks for you.
Mark Talmo

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

Pac-Bay minimas seem to fit the bill.
[www.mudhole.com]

Berkley 304 SS guides from Janns/Netcraft .

Dennis J. Danku
(Sayreville,NJ)

Like the PacBay minima guides, they come in a number of different styles. For light weight spinning rods I like using the minima match (M) guides for stripper and reduction guides and the minima fly guides (F) as running guides. Set up with the Fuji KR system, they give an extremely light weight and responsive rod that will cast light lures out of sight. For a light rod I used size 16 M, size 8M, and size 6M guides as stripper and reduction guides, followed by size 4 F guides as runners. The all chrome guides are very inexpensive and performs exceptionally well. Just finished a 6' light spin rod for a friend today using this setup.
Norm



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/2016 06:16PM by Norman Miller.

There is a bunch of great info in the archives that can be found using the search function.

Also the American Tackle "Airwave" guide sets, in Chrome with Chrome ring, also Black with Chrome ring.
Complete with suggested spacing chart.
Here is a link;
[www.schneidersrods.com]

Best wishes,
Ron Schneider
Schneider's Rod Shop
Mountain Home, Arkansas
[www.schneidersrods.com]
mtnron40@yahoo.com
870-424-3381

Thanks to Rick, Dennis, Norman, Spencer and Ron for taking the time to help me.
Mark Talmo

I am concerned if the metal insert is friendly to all kinds of lines. Does it cut the braided lines?

After reading many favorable comments on this forum concerning the minima guides I gave them a try on an old light action rod I had, but did not like. Well I was very impressed with the results. It transformed that rod completely, making it lighter more responsive, and better casting. I found that the entire set of minima guides weighed about the same as the old size 25 ceramic ringed stripper I used previously on the rod. At the time my major concern was the durability of the minima guide's hard chrome insert, thinking they would groove over time. I have made a bunch of spinning and casting rods using these guides over the past couple of years with absolutely no problems with grooving or line fraying. However only time will tell.