If any of you guys are still monitoring this, I was reading on Angler's Resource their explanation of "groups" in relation to the reduction train. I am assuming that the guides will form their concentric rings if the guides are purchased as a group and positioned in the spacing recommended by the GPS software or manual measurements. Will they form concentric rings regardless of the spacing? And they also suggest that one can "tweak" the choke guide position by moving "...the bottom of the choke guide ring to the top edge of the last reduction guide" in order to facilitate a smoother directional change the line must make. Forgive me if this sounds dumb, but is this when viewing the pathway with the guide rings facing the ceiling or facing the ground?

How is this actually accomplished? Is it a function of the length of the stem of the guide, or a function of where on the rod it is positioned relative to the last reduction guide?

"Will they form concentric rings regardless of the spacing?"

No.

"but is this when viewing the pathway with the guide rings facing the ceiling or facing the ground?"

It is when "sighting" down the blank from the butt end, much like you would aim a gun. If you are familiar with aperture sights..... think of 3 ghost ring sights, each smaller in order, and placed increasingly farther from your eye, so they all line up as concentric circles and all center on the front post.

Russ in Hollywood, FL.

For me, the easiest way to check if I have a bullseye, is to run the line through the guides, tie on a light weight, let it hang from the tip, and with the rod horizontal, press the line to the bottom of the reel spool. What I want to see is a straight line from the bottom of the spool to the choke guide, and another straight line from the choke guide to the tip top, with the line touching the bottom of each guide. A slight angle entering the stripper is ok. There is a lot of flexibility in putting a guide train together, it is a lot easier than some think. The size groupings for KR reduction guides makes it quite easy.
Norm

Thank you guys for your responses. Sighting for the concentricity is not the issue. The issue is what the article is calling a tweaking of the choke guide. There is a diagram of three concentric rings, and then the "bottom" of the choke ring placed so that it looks like it's touching the "top" of the last reduction guide when sighting down the line. I guess my question is what is considered the "top" of a guide, or the "bottom" of a guide? Then, how does one create that illusion of the bottom of the choke guide touching the top of the last reduction guide?

I do not have a clue what one does to make this happen. Is it the size of the guide stem that needs to be just right? Is it where the guide is placed on the blank? The question stems from the "KR Groups" section of the Angler's Resource web site, down at the bottom of the article where there are 4 steps to placing the reduction guides. Step #4 depicts the illustration that I am referring to.

Ernie wrote: "and then the "bottom" of the choke ring placed so that it looks like it's touching the "top" of the last reduction guide when sighting down the line. I guess my question is what is considered the "top" of a guide, or the "bottom" of a guide? Then, how does one create that illusion of the bottom of the choke guide touching the top of the last reduction guide?"
You would be looking through the reduction guides from the stripper guide to choke guide ( all the reduction guides taped in place). then you would move ( untape) the choke guide to move it towards the tip of the blank until bottom of the moveable choke guide is aligned so that it looks like the bottom of the choke guide ring is on the top of the top of the stationary last reduction guide.
this movement of the choke guide could be tweaked from its original concentric position to the rings touching position for better (if it looks better to you (longer casts, maybe) it is better). but, you could leave it in the original concentric position if you like, or anywhere in between the two positions.
Hope this cleared some mud!

Bingo!

The illusion can be changed by moving the choke guide in one direction or the other. Thanks Gary.

you are welcome

By the way...are there any special tip tops that go with these guides?

LG tip tops for the stainless KR guides, and KG Arowana tip tops for the titanium KR guides.
Norm

Thanks Norm.

I am assuming that the ring size of the tip top should be the same size as the closest running guide to it. Is this so?

All the running guides should be the same size, so to answer your question, Yes. Some people like to use a size larger ring for the tip top, but I like to match tip-top ring size to that of the runners.
Norm

Norm,

Thanks for the reply.

If I may ask...from where is your e-mail address derived? Are you at a university?

I’m an Emeritus (means retired) Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the Univ. Mississippi Medical Center, and still use the Med Center’s E-mail server.
Norm

Always favorite subjects of mine. I was enrolled in a Master's Degree program in immunology at NYU in the late seventies. While there I got accepted to veterinary school, and thirty-eight years and counting later I remain a full time veterinary clinician. I still work like I did when I was practically a kid. The work philosophy and the work ethic of most of the young people I work with are certainly different than those of myself and those my age. "Work" was never a dirty word back then. :-)

My nephew is a Vet outside of Atlanta, he is a very hard working person and has a developed a successful practice. Unfortunately, I have to agree with you about the change in work ethic of some that has occurred over the years. However, there still a lot of young people that do take pride in hard work and doing the best they can. I have worked with both types.
Norm