Seen pricing on @#$%& for a replacement and no way will I pay $100 plus for one guide. Also not keen on shipping a rod back to manufacture to replace one guide.

The guide I need to replace is the stripper guide off a first gen steez ags 76mml. Took rod sleeve off rod and noticed the stripper had a lot of movement to find the guide foot is cracked. The id of the ring measures out to just under 24mm. I was contemplating replacing with a TiSic. What guide and size would you use?

Without a photo it's hard to advise. You say "stripper" guide so I assume this is a fly rod? Or is it the butt guide on a spinning/casting rod? Either way, if you're not worried about having an exact cosmetic match, just go with something in the same size and frame height and it'll work just like it did before. The TiSic will keep weight down (although on the butt area this wouldn't be a huge issue) and relieves you from any corrosion woes. It'll work.

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It’s a spinning rod

If the guide has an insert, you’ll want to measure the outside ring diameter or, since the guide is damaged anyway, pop the ring insert out and then measure the inside diameter of the ring.

I have the same rod. It's a size 25 guide and something like 58mm tall. The match for that would be Fuji KLH size 25. I would go with black titanium SIC (though more gray than black). Another option in black steel is an alps size 25 y guide. You could also call St. Croix, they are using the same AGS guides on some of their rods now and may be more helpful than Daiwa. Or not.

They should replace the rod for what they cost.

Thanks Peter that was the exact guide I was considering

Lynn I agree I wouldn’t have it if I didn’t get a deal. Plus I wanted to witness the hype. And I agree about the replacement lol. Just wish daiwa would just sell the guide. I’m not shipping a whole 7’6” rod to have a guide replaced.

Will Daiwa not tell you what guide is on it?

They are proprietary Daiwa carbon fiber framed guides, which apparently are not sold to the general public. However, It does look like Daiwa sells some to St Croix. It’s unclear to me what ring material is used. In some pictures I’ve seen, they almost look like stainless steel rings, similar to Minima guides or Airwave guides. In other pictures they look like they may be ceramic. Does anyone know the ring material used in these guides?

Norm

Well, I know what I'd do then. I'd just get as close as I could and run with it. Their guides can't be all that and a slice a bread or it wouldn't have broken to begin with. ;)

Will Daiwa send you a replacement guide if you send in the broken guide? Might be worth a try contacting them to see if that's and option.

Swap the original guides for Fuji titanium-framed ones. You will not (most likely) have a problem with breaking guide feet and will not have a problem replacing any of them. If the factory spacing is ok, the new guides can be put in the same places as the original ones and the new wraps will look like the original ones (or not, if so desired ;-)).

The carbon fiber guides are made by Fuji and I think the ring is SIC. Are they less durable than metal guides? Maybe. Do they make the rod more sensitive? Not for me. However the particular rod we are talking about is quite amazing and I haven't found a blank like it. The guide spacing is not what I would do, but I'm not about to cut off a $100 set of guides and replace them with another $100 set of guides. Also, the blank has a coating so changing guide positions isn't going to go well. There are some things we can't make ourselves in the rod building world, and this blank with those guides is one of them. Sometimes you just have to buy something and try it.

AGS guides have CF frames and ceramic rings.

My hunch when the AGS guided rods came out was that they typified the classic law of diminishing returns. Titanium guides are already excellent and quite expensive. It’s hard for me to see where they aren’t overkill on anything but a small handful of blank series that are equally high in performance. There aren’t a lot of rods that need to be that extreme in performance and cost in most anglers’ collections. The Torzite guides are durable and great functioning, though.

It’s likely that carbon guides will be even more expensive if/when they become available to builders. Durability will be a question mark along with tangible improvements in performance. While CF has some higher measures of strength than titanium per density, it requires increased thickness. This is far less than ideal for guides. Thick feet won’t wrap as nicely. Thick frames won’t be a snag proof as the current Torzite offerings.

Carbon edges aren’t as kind to fishing line as the very smooth and round in profile titanium or stainless materials. If you have a casting motion as smooth as a Bobby Jones swing, you are still going to get contact at times between line and frame. Do you want your fluorocarbon or braid hitting even sanded carbon edges a single time? Line speeds can be very high when this occurs. A well working rod guide is a combination of many performance parameters, not just one or two.

Ultimately it will be some sort of nylon composite used to make a modern, strong yet flexible guide frame. And it may be sooner than you think.

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Tom Kirkman Wrote:
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> Ultimately it will be some sort of nylon composite
> used to make a modern, strong yet flexible guide
> frame. And it may be sooner than you think.
>
> ..............


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