Hello all, long time lurker. I have learned a lot from this forum and have tried searching this question, but came up short. I’m looking for a rough estimate of how close your running guides come out to be on a surf rod.

I am building an FSC Sb1266 for plugging. Ive built the handle to be 25” to the center of the reel seat. I’ve laid out a guide train at least 4 times using a NGC and I’m not sure if I’ve put too many running guides. I’ve paired it with a Penn Spinfisher 5500. That reel gives me a choke point of about 59”, but I’ve moved it to about 60.5” in order to get my stripper a little further out. (Comes out about 26” from spool face). The choke point leaves me about 36” of blank from choke to tip. I’m using KW guides and have laid out 30,25,20, and 12 as a choke and then( 4) 8’s. ( I tried using straight 8’s from choke to tip but thought it looked odd and threw the 12 on as the choke, still debating this). I’ve tried using 4 runners spaced several different ways but static loading shows some flat spots and it looked like it needed another runner. I then laid out (5) 8’s spaced progressively which showed a better static load. I’ve test casted each setup and there were no issues that I observed and the rod casted pretty well. I’ve tried a couple other reduction guide trains using a 16, but the 30,25,20,12 turned out the best. My question is, are 9 guides plus a tip top too many for a 10’6’’ rod, and with this size of rod are some flat spots acceptable on a static load test? Any other constructive criticisms are welcome, I’ve built fresh water rods and fly rods, but this is the first surf rod. Thanks!

Jordan,
Sounds like you have nailed it.
Build the rod and enjoy it.

Good luck

First some thoughts on the reduction train :

I built my last CTS 12 footer with a guide layout similar to yours with a 30,25,20 , 12 and it was OK but not amazing , the reason why it wasn't amazing is because a 30,25,20 as a reduction train really does not cut the line coils down that much before they encounter the 12 size choker .


Using a 30 stripper then going with a 20 to a 16 or 12 is much more effective IF you use line say up to 30 pound braid and under but if using above 40 pound i agree the 30,25,20 , 12 is the way to go . I also went with the KW double foots for that rod and the KW 30 ,25,20, 12 was the layout that seemed to fit best for that particular rod mostly because the heights of them fit well , i would have preferred smaller rings but the heights did not match up well . A solid all around layout though that works very well with heavy and light braid.

One of the biggest performance enhancers is to go with smaller running guides than the 8's as i originally went with 8's on the 12 footer but after i tried size 6 KT's i was blown away and used those instead , my current build, an eleven footer i'm using size 5 runners ONLY because i use light line and use relatively light leaders & the performance difference is dramatic with the smaller runners.


Regarding spacing on that particular blank i think 9 guides plus the tip top is right on the money since you say even with that many runners you're concerned about some areas not being supported well enough , you should use enough runners to make sure there is full support along the blanks natural curvature don't worry about if it looks to be too many .

Just my thoughts, have fun.

Thanks for the advice and input.

Quick follow up, when making thread ramps to transition grip to blank or reel seat to grip, do they have to look pretty or will they clean up after a few coats of epoxy?

Okay, the first 8 is your choke guide, no matter where you locate it. If you have the line following a straight path to the choke guide (sight down from the butt guide - all guides should be framed by the previous one like a bull's eye) then you're most likely just fine. Stop worrying about what it looks like.

.........

Jordan Garrett Wrote:
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> Thanks for the advice and input.
>
> Quick follow up, when making thread ramps to
> transition grip to blank or reel seat to grip, do
> they have to look pretty or will they clean up
> after a few coats of epoxy?


Once you get some epoxy over them the threads will blend together and look fine.

Thanks for the help, tomorrow will be glue up day.