So I bought a Rodgeeks 70mm s glass rod for balsa baits. Guides are setup and I’ve test casted and static loaded the blank. Simple spiral setup.

Casting is awesome everything I wanted. However under static load the blank seems to never stop bending. Line through the guides under load appears to be spot on. However right now my stripper is 18” from the line guide of my reel and the line is touching the blank under load between the reel and stripper. The load is a gallon of water with me putting a solid bend in the rod.

How close is too close for a stripper guide? I’m just a hobby builder and never had a issue like this before

Don't worry, it works. There is no problem with the line touching the blank under load, especially that load. Too close is when it doesn't cast well; yours casts well, so it's not too close.

Jason,
If you are referring to a Rod Geeks SG70MM, that blank is rated for 6-14lb. Loading that blank with 1 gallon of water (>8lb) is way overloading it!!! Just for laughs-and-giggles, I loaded my 40-100lb glass Seeker with 1 gallon of water, and the weight put a bend into the butt section.
Placing the butt guide 18in from the reel should be quite close to optimum. While fishing the rod, if the line starts cutting into your hand or fingers holding the fore grip will be an indication you are overloading it lol.

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

Just to clarify I didn’t pick up the gallon. rod is not powerful enough for that. I just used it for a anchor point to deflect the rod for static testing

for my glass rods i like about 14 inches

You could always go to the next larger sized guide for the butt position. Leave it where it is. The larger guide will stand just a bit taller and might give you just enough additional height to keep the line off the blank under full load.

...........

Why do anything? It is working just fine.

Yes mark the sg70mm

I had one of the old St. Croix SG I S glass 70 MM blanks built up many years ago I had an 8 inch rear grip on it and the first guide from the reel was 57 inches from the tip I believe. A Fuji Alconite BLNAG 10, or 12.

Jason,
With your confirmation of the blank, I agree with Michael “It is working just fine” = fish it. I am confident that the reason the line was “touching the blank '' was simply due to overloading. Although I do not think you need it, while increasing the ring size may raise the line higher off the blank / grip, a better approach would be to use a higher frame with the same size ring = casting reels do not require as large diameter butt guide as do spinning reels.

Mark Talmo
FISHING IS NOT AN ESCAPE FROM LIFE BUT RATHER A DEEPER IMMERSION INTO IT!!! BUILDING YOUR OWN SIMPLY ENHANCES THE EXPERIENCE.

The stripper is a size 10 followed by all size 5 to the tip utilizing a simple spiral approach. Rear grip is 9.5” followed up with a ecs seat.

Love how the rod cast. Never had a blank this soft before though. All my past crankbait rods whether glass or graphite have been higher powered rods hence my reason for choosing this blank for balsa duties.

For my own ocd I’m going to move it to 16” from the reel face and see how it does. In past builds for casting rods usually 20” has been set it and forget it.

Also on the past I’ve used the RV6 but I had these size 10 strippers from some salvaged rods. Also trying a new tiptop utilizing a atc guide for the first time



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/2021 07:55AM by Jason Gofron.

i grew wth glass and don,t recali butt guides out that far, not till graphite came along and rods got longer..