Decided to cough up some money on the titanium RV6 guide for two builds. I can't justify doing a full titanium train so I'll have to do a little mix and match. I'm fairly condident that the titanium sics with the polished ss alconite guides will work, but not sure about the black titanium. Is there a color available thay would match it? Maybe Gunsmoke?

I just did one with the black titanium with the dark gray CC frame runners, looks fine. The runners are so small and dark that the difference is not that apparent. I've done your other proposal, too, and it works.

The "looks" of a particular guide train are easily observed. The performance of any particular guide train is nowhere to be found. The conflict between form and function has a winner - form.

Except for weight I have never found the frame or ring material to affect performance. But he was asking about appearance. And without buying the options, the best way to know how acceptable the appearance will be is to ask for the opinions of those who have tried them.

Gunmetal SiC is almost a perfect match. GMKBSG etc.

I'm still following the KR concept layout so I'm not expecting to see any noticeable difference in performance if I go with CC guides instead of titanium. Performance is always #1, but if I'm building a custom rod I might as well make it look good! :) Thanks for chiming in everyone. Gunmetal it is!

Question:
For conventional rods, is the guide spacing just a matter of make sure it's spaced appropriately according to the bend? I've only built spinning rods on a KR concept so there's was a specific method for spacing the reduction train.

By conventional you mean baitcast, right? Answer is yes.. Same principals as spin, same process exc you don't have a reduction train to figure out. Start with your RV about 19 " from the reel, move it in and out a little and test cast . Locate the runners (all one size works fine) by stress test. Often builders use more guides on micro cast rods built on top to keep the line from crossing under the blank under load. Many others build a spiral and don't need to add guides, exc for the one at 90 degrees (simple spiral-do a site search). Might even break even, cutting a runner depending on stress test.

My personal preference is to build on top (I seem insensitive to the torqueing - which with low micro guides has to be pretty low anyway) and don't really like the look of spirals. I usually add a couple guides, so a seven foot rod would have 9 or 10 guides. Rods cast great.

Mostly I put more guides on top with micro guides to keep the line off the blank because it is already sitting so low because of the small guide size. When the line contacts the blank it slows it down. You want enough guides to achieve this whatever it is.

If I'm reading your comment correctly - doesn't make much sense to me to have your lighter (Ti) guide(s) down low towards the butt - and the heavier (SS) guides up top near the tip. You will get so much better performance out of any blank with light components at the top.
Herb
CTS Distrib

Herb Ladenheim Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If I'm reading your comment correctly - doesn't
> make much sense to me to have your lighter (Ti)
> guide(s) down low towards the butt - and the
> heavier (SS) guides up top near the tip. You will
> get so much better performance out of any blank
> with light components at the top.
> Herb
> CTS Distrib

Right, but unfortunately the RV's only come in titanium and as much as I'd like to, I can't afford an all titanium guide train.