I’m in the middle of restoring an old graph-lite rod (top piece fiberglass bottom graphite) for a good friend that was given to him by his grandfather when he was a kid. He’s requested a shorter fore grip and replace the rear grip with cork tape. Now, my question is about guides. It appears they are SV’s with a pretty drastic reduction. There are 4 guides total and are in really rough shape, bad enough that it’s hard to get a good measurement to determine their size. My best guess is 50, 30, 20, 10. So I can either replace these with new or try a newer, better guide layout. This rod is rated 10-20lbs 3/4-3oz lures. I was thinking a KW layout, maybe 30, 25, 16, 4 X 10’s or KW30, KL25, KL16, 4 X KT10’s. I think it would definitely enhance the potential of the old rod plus he could use braid. I was thinking the KW’s to keep it double foot all the way and do the same wraps like it originally was. The KW, KL, KT’s might look a bit different because everything after the stripper would be single foot and I wouldn’t be able to mimic the original wraps. What do you guys think?

A more modern guide layout would better spread out the forces involved with casting and landing fish For a KW layout could use KW30, KW25, KW20, KW12, to your KW runners.
For a KW/KL hybrid layout you could use KW30, KL20, KL12 to KT runners. The KL20 is higher than the KW20 and fits well with the KW30. The KW/KL reduction train would be lighter. Just depends on what you want.
Norm

Al,
When rebuilding an old rod to be used for fishing, I will generally strip the blank, remove the reel seat, and grips and do a wet sand on the blank.

Then, put on the grips and reel seat of choice - along with a size 20, 10, and 6 runners to the tip. I would use a double foot on the first guide and single foot on the rest of the guides.

You don't say whether this is a spinning or a casting rod.

Take care

Sorry guys I forgot to follow so wasn’t getting notifications. It’s a spinning rod , I’d like to stay with the KW layout so the double foot matches the old layout somewhat. Norman I think I’ll give that layout a shot and test cast. Roger I went one step further and added a couple coats of permagloss to the top section. He will primarily will be tossing with mono so I’ll try the larger guides first and see how it goes. I’m trying to convince him to switch to braid but he’s stubborn as a mule! Thanks for the input fellas!

Al,
Just curious.
If a person is catching lots of nice fish in the way that he goes fishing and he is really happy with his setup, why would the person want to change to a different type of line?

Yes, I know all of the advantages of braid. I also know all of the disadvantages of braid.

I mainly fish with mono - because it suits the type fishing that I am doing. But I do have spools loaded with braid so that when I am in those conditions where braid would be better, I will go with that line.

Take care

I absolutely agree, I’d like to make him a rod that would be more than capable to use braid if he so chooses. I’m going to test cast with mono and braid so I know he’ll have the best of both worlds if he so chooses

Al,
If the rod casts well with mono - it will work great with braid.

Take care

roger wilson Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Al,
> If the rod casts well with mono - it will work
> great with braid.
>
> Take care


Great news, thank you Roger!

A couple before and after pics

You did a good job stripping it down. How long is this rod, and what size reel will be used? I was under the impression that it was a surf rod when you stated it originally had a size 50 stripper, Hence my guide recommendation. The rod does not look all that long, but it could just be perception.
Norm

It’s 8’, I’m not entirely sure what it’s purpose was with the size and number of guides it came with from the factory. He’s looking at a 3500-4500 size reel, I was figuring going a KW layout for a nice little spinning rod for schoolies

Back when that rod was made, they used very large and very few guides. There was no such thing as braided line or even high quality mono. Today the trend is using more guides which are smaller, and lighter, to spread out the forces generated while casting or fighting a big fish. With a 3500 or 4500 reel, you could certainly go to a KR concept if using braid or relatively light mono, but a KR concept using double ft guides would require the use of RV guides which only come in titanium frames thus are more expensive. So a NGC layout using KWs will work fine. Because of the reel size you could drop to a KW30L to KW20 to KW12 to size 8, 7 or 6 runners. A lot of options out there.
Norm

Norman Miller Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Back when that rod was made, they used very large
> and very few guides. There was no such thing as
> braided line or even high quality mono. Today the
> trend is using more guides which are smaller, and
> lighter, to spread out the forces generated while
> casting or fighting a big fish. With a 3500 or
> 4500 reel, you could certainly go to a KR concept
> if using braid or relatively light mono, but a KR
> concept using double ft guides would require the
> use of RV guides which only come in titanium
> frames thus are more expensive. So a NGC layout
> using KWs will work fine. Because of the reel size
> you could drop to a KW30L to KW20 to KW12 to size
> 8, 7 or 6 runners. A lot of options out there.
> Norm

Awesome info! Thanks Norm! I’ll post up some picks as the build proceeds

progress, I'm not as far along as I'd like to be but making headway

Signed, sealed and delivered. He loves it!