My son and I after building about 25 or 30 rods have realized we are still pretty ignorant when making guide choices. We have only built freshwater but are going to build a few saltwater inshore rods for a family vacation. We have only built our freshwater series with about 3 different guide styles. This is due to the fact that there are so many guide styles to choose from that it is almost mind boggling to try and figure out. We read this forum almost daily and have learned quite alot. We would love to hear more about why certain guides are chosen. For example it seems the Fuji K series seems to be a very popular guide among builders, but in appearance in the catalogs it is real similar to others. We are not looking for endorsements on any certain brands just info on why they are chosen for a particular application. In our short experience we have found that all guides are not created equal.

Steven,
If you are building saltwater inshore rods, the guides normally are little different than what you would use for your freshwater rods. Consider the fish you are targeting and choose guides accordingly.

But remember, even a tiny micro guide can normally handle the rigors that might be put on the guide up to about 30 lb test line. If you are going heavier than 30 lb test line, you might want to consider a more robust rod.

Also if you go to the Batson / Rainshadow rod building site, they post blue prints for building their rods with appropriate guides. Then, if you choose to use a different guide, you will at least have their recommendation for a guide.

At the end of the day, you need a guide to direct the line down the rod. As long as the guide does not break when the line goes through it and as long as the guide does not adversely affect line flow it will likely work for your rod build.

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Also, if you go to rod guide catalogs, you will find typical recommendations for applications for their guides.

Best wishes.

There is what I consider a perfect solution to the inshore spin rod question if you want a versatile setup that will cast light bonefish jigs well and will allow lobbing big lures for cudas and similar power fish. It is more powerful than the specs indicate; it's XF (80 degree AA) action allows casting light stuff easily and its powerful butt allows for good handling of bigger fish, like a 45 inc cuda this year.

Rainshadow RX6 SB841-3 3 piece travel spin with Fuji KLH 20-10-5.5M with 4.5 KB's and KT's reduction train set up per Fuji KR software, the runners with a stress test. You can't go wrong with this if you want a very versatile rod for a large range of lures and fish power. I use 21 pound Hitena Pure Line, casts a mile, plenty of room on a Stradic 4000 for 150 yards of line + some backing.

Fufi guides come in lots of variations all of which will work in salt. Always rinse daily regardless of specs.

ERN = 21

Steven,

I will try and answer your question as best I am able to. Guides are actually the reason I became a rod builder. I purchased at the time the "highest end" rod I owned to date and it was a nightmare. I would constantly have wind knots tangle around the stripping guide. . . Or a running guide. I mean if I cast this rod with anything more then a gentle toss I was having issues. This also happened to be an inshore rod I brought with me on a Keyes kayaking trip. On the trip home I told my wife "I'm pretty sure you can build your own rods. I don't think I'll buy another factory rod again." So guides started me down this road. I can very happily say I have not experienced this issue with any rods that I have build, largely from knowledge shared on this and other information sites and at rod building gatherings.

Stories out of the way, what I did was build a few rods with identical blanks and grips but different guides. Obviously many rods I've owned have had cone of flight configurations, I have built using new guide concept, KR concept and microwave guides. What I have learned is I very much prefer rapid reduction guide trains, KR and microwaves. Nowadays most of my rods wear microwave guides, I have no issues with KR concept, Fuji or any other suppliers. I simply prefer microwaves and how they perform for me. I use microwave 20 finesse guides primarily. I have inshore rods with standard microwaves and microwave 30s. It just depends on the line weight and the spool size of your reel. The other huge factor with rapid reduction guide trains is much less weight in the tip section of the rod due to the smaller guides.

Single foot Spinning guides are basically grouped into three generic frame types, V, Y, and Match (M) guides. For a given ring size the V guide is the shortest, the Y guide is higher, and the M guide has the highest frame. All the Fuji K guides are tangle free guides which have forward sloping ring, and this tangle free frame style has been adopted by several other companies like SeaGuide, American Tackle, and Kigan. The Fuji KL guides are similar in height to V and some Y guides, in contrast the Fuji KR (KL-H) guides are basically M guides with a tangle free Frame. The V and Y frame guides are most commonly used in cone of flight and NGC guide layouts where the line is more gradually choked down to the running guides, which are usually size 6 or larger. The KR guides are used in a KR concept where high frame small ring reduction guides rapidly choke the line to small low frame running guides which are smaller than a size 6. The Micro wave guides have a unique stripper guide, which is similar to a Y guide or tangle free KL- like guide with a small ring inserted in the middle of the larger ring which is used to accomplish rapid choking of the line to a transition guide then to small frame running guides.
Double foot guides also come in various frame styles (V and N) and heights, with some having tangle free forward sloping rings like the Fuji KW. The Fuji RV guide is a unique type of tangle free high frame KR guide used mostly for saltwater KR spinning guide layouts.
Running guides can be V, N, Y, L (single ft fly guides) and KB/KT-like guides.
The guides used are a personal preference and depends on reel and line you want to use for a particular type of fishing (I.e., spinning, casting, light duty, heavy duty, etc.). I know this is a very general outline of guide types but I hope it gives you some insight.
Norm

Thanks to everyone. Norm this answers alot of my questions. I had read where someone had used one brand reduction guides and another for running guides. This helps alot.