Been thinking about building a rod with a Pflueger Arbor reel, and was thinking about using the Fuji KR guide spacing system. This system seems to set the guide ring sizes based on line used rather than spool diameter like the 27X does.

I've also heard just a few people with the opinion that a larger stripper guide casts further, especially as the reel spool diameter increases.

My question is - does the Fuji system work well regardless of spool diameter, or is there a better system to go with when using larger arbor reels.

It works very well with reels up to Shimano Stradic 4000 based on my experience. (2 inch dia spool, if I remember right) I believe that it's very much about the line used. Braid is very forgiving of rod design differences, and the lower the pound test, the more forgiving it is. I think with 6 pound braid you could probably do pretty well with casting guides on the spin rod. No I have not tried it.

KR does take spool diameter into consideration. The GPS for KR software wants to know what "series" reel you plan to use in order to narrow the spool size in the computation. That said, there are limits to when and where the KR Concept should be applied. With larger spools and heavier mono or fluoro we would still default to NGC.

I agree completely with Jim, spool size does play into stripper guide size and placement and so does the type and # test of line being used. However, there is some built in flexibility in KR guide size and placement.The KR concept is exceptional when using braid and light mono. If using large reels with heavier mono line it is better to use the NGC. If you are not sure about how your particular reel size matches with what is given in the KR GPS menu pick the size that is close to your reel size. For example, a size 2500 reel is not a choice in the KR GPS, and for a given reel size some reel brands have larger or smaller spools then others. So pick something close. Tape the guides in place according to the GPS, install reel, run the line through the guides, attach a small weight and let it hang from the tip. Press the line against the bottom of the spool and look at how the line passes through the guides. You want a straight line from the bottom of the spool through the stripper to the choke guide, and another straight line from choke to tip top, with the line touching the bottom of each ring. If you do not see this, then adjust accordingly. You can also fudge your KR layout some by choosing a slightly larger reel and/or a higher # test line then you would normally use in the GPS menu. This will usually give you a size larger stripper with a slightly different layout. This layout allows a little more flexibility concerning different reel sizes and lines used, but does not hurt performance with a smaller reel with lighter line. Going to a size larger reduction train group does not really hurt, but going too large does not really help performance.
Norm