Hi everyone

I am completely new at rod building. I will be practicing with some old rods. My first go will be at replacing the first and second guide of an old Clearwater 8wt. I got same size guides and i hope to be a not so complicated task that should provide me some experience on wrapping and epoxy coating etc.

But the first rod i will be wrapping is an old (circa 2001) ST. Croix Premier PS66MLF (6'6" med-lite power, fast action, SCII graphite, 4-10 lb., 1/8 - 1/2 oz). I am providing all the specs I can read on the rod, in case you guys are familiar with this blank. So my question is: What brand, what size and how many guides would you put on this rod? I understand that there is no right answer to these questions, I just want to have an idea of how experienced fellas would approach this.

Also any light regarding guide position will be appreciated.

Cheers,
MDP

Forgot to mention it is a spinning rod. I will be using a 2000 reel with light braided Line.

As far as position, use the current guide locations.

Miguel, you just solved 90% of the rod building problems when you said there is no right answer in rod building..that,s the attitude that will make this hobby fun for you and help keep your mind open and out of the rut we all can fall into..enjoy the process of learning..

Phil thanks for the sugestión. I've been debating if i should do that or not. I will be changing all components of that rod, therefore I will have a clean blank. With the Mud Hole building kit i also ordered the unexpensive CRB SSR concept kit. Although the ID of the guides is smaller than the original ones, the height is just a tiny bit less. I guess that marking the old guides' position, removing them and taping the new ones to test how the blank and the line behaves is the way to go.

Hey Ben! Yes, I am very excited not only being about been able to customize rods to my likning but also about the learning process. I believe it will make the whole fishing experience more enjoyable.

I Think i read somewhere (perhaps an old thread here) a List of books about rod building. I cannot find it. It will be lovely, If you or any other member can suggest good reads.

Cheers

These refinishing of rods will be a great way of getting your wrapping down. I would go with the same guides that are on there, just for this purpose. Changing the height and size ring of the guides will effect the current performance of the rod. In my opinion, if you change the height and size of the guides then you will also need to change the placement and amount of guides. When doing that, the old marks on the rod where the guides were, will be visible and are very hard to remove so they are not. If you don't care they are visible then change frame, ring size and amount of guides.

If it were me, I'd use new guides of high quality, Fuji tangle free SIC guides. I would use the existing guides as a starting point for guide placement, then do a two line static test to adjust the guide placement so the line from the reel to the tiptop equally distributes the loaf, and follows the curve of the bent blank There are youtube videos on how to do a 2 line static test. me,

Tight Lies and frisky fish

RJF

makes total sense, thanks

Thanks all for your advice!