I built a rod for a buddy as a gift (I’m a hobby builder) and used microwave guides on an MHx tr843-3 rod blank, and he is saying it’s having trouble casting and the cast goes for a bit then “seems to die off early”. I carefully measured everything and had built an identical blank with microwave guides for another buddy that I test casted and I had no issues. He is putting a larger reel on it (a 4000 series) which I think may not match up well with that rod. I may just need to get the rod back and test it again myself, but is there anything you guys could think of that I should check other than if his reel is not a good fit for it?

Several things. Find out if the spool on his reel is fully filled. Ask what the casting weight of his lure is, and match against the rating casting weight recommended for the blank. Find out what type line he's using.

There are a multitude of things that could be the issue, if in fact, there really is an issue. My money is on something your customer is doing, or not doing.

...............

You took great care in building the rod so I am guessing it may be the reel, line or possible operator error on the part of your friend he may be intimidated by the "new system" and needs to gain confidence. .

Your on the right track get the rod back with his reel. Give the rod a good work out with his reel and try several of yours. Try different lines, it may be as simple as that but if your friend is right and the rod behaves poorly then you may have to rework the rod.

Have fun

john

Most 4000 size spinners have a spool diameter of around 50 mm which is not that wide by any means , i agree with Tom about how much line is on the spool and what kind of line is it , if the spool is not adequately filled or he's using braid above 20 pounds either will cause issues with casting . Spinners of that size matched up to 7 foot light action rods really excel with light braid 10 to 15 pounds being exceptionally popular .

Daren,
Have him do a test for you and put on a fully filled 2500 sized reel with light line and see how it goes.

See if the issue is the rod or if it is the reel and line.

Be safe

The other thing that you can do is to bring over a half dozen rods and have him mount his reel on each of the other rods and see how they all compare to the rod in question.

You need to know for sure if the fault is with:

1. person doing the casting.
2. The line that is on the reel
3. The reel itself that is doing the casting.
4. Or the rod itself.

If you take the rod out of the equation, you can find out if the other three items are not part of the problem.

If you have someone else use the rod in question with a favorite fully filled reel, you also take the first three items out of the equation, by having the testing done with a different person and different reel and line.

Good luck

Just a picture of the rod/reel will likely solve the problem , there's really nothing to Microwave systems either it's setup correctly or not , as long as you chose the correct Microwave system of course. As a general rule of thumb popular spinners in the 4000 size have a spool diameter virtually equal to that of 2000 size models the thing that changes the most is the depth of the spool . Shimano reels especially , Penn is slightly different in the smaller sizes .

I believe the most common causes for the problem you describe are a partially filled spool, line with too great a diameter, or old mono that has lost its flexibility. Everybody knows how to cast a spinning reel.

I agree with Phil.

I've never used a rod with the Micro wave system, but with it's small center guide in the stripper, my guess is it's line related. Personally, I'd lean more towards the type of line he's using. The nature of the Microwave system pretty much dictates that it isn't going to work as well with stiffer lines. Especially stiffer lines with larger spool diameters.

Yep, I think it’s his line he has on there. I casted the rod after getting it from him and I used my shimano 3000 loaded with braid and it casts just fine. Honestly I got about 10 more yards on his rod than my usual st droid with standard guides. Gotta be his line.

So he just sent you the rod without the reel and line he was using ? What are you going to do send it back and tell him you tested it with your reel and it's fine ? He probably automatically assumes it must be a defect in the layout or something , anyways good luck you did the right thing by checking it out .



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/19/2019 09:19PM by herb canter.

Sorry I meant to say he did let me borrow his reel and line as well as the rod. I was able to cast consistently about 10 more yards with my reel and line vs his reel and line (throwing the same saltwater jig). Therefore I’m assuming something with his set up is incorrect. Spool looks to be filled correctly but it is heavier line. It’s also some kinda line (not sure the brand) that has some sort of coating on it. He may need to change the line out I’m thinking.

Daren Molina

herb canter Wrote:
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> So he just sent you the rod without the reel and
> line he was using ? What are you going to do send
> it back and tell him you tested it with your reel
> and it's fine ? He probably automatically
> assumes it must be a defect in the layout or
> something , anyways good luck you did the right
> thing by checking it out .

Yeah , heavy line and the Microwave system is not a good match .

Glad you figured it out .