[zenaq.com]

thoughts on this ?
anyone fish one of these rods?
only aspect I find plausible and not marketing @#$%& is the reduction of wind knots

I believe they use standard Fuji guides on all their rods.

They did design and promote a couple of carbon framed spinning guides (matched to Fuji running guides) that I was interested in. When I contacted them they told me that the guides were not ready for release. That was a little over a year ago.

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more specifically my question is
thoughts on more guides versus conventional amount static load shows us

You should always use the correct number of guides, no more and no less. And the correct number is whatever provides adequate stress distribution for the rod.

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Bert,
The “correct number” of guides is a judgment call. While too few guides will produce a noticeable “bowstring” effect, it is possible to add too many guides attempting to make the line follow the arc of the blank too exactly; = judgment call. Although I would prefer too many versus too few, it seems to me that the Zenaq rods use an excessive number of guides, but that may just be me. As a starting point, I have adopted that the number of guides for a typical spinning rod should be equal to the number of feet of the blank + 2, possibly 3, and then 2-line static load test to determine the “correct number”; but it's still a judgment call. But it is my judgment call and I can live with that.

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

Remember the mass you are installing in guides is a moving mass, accelerated and than stopped abruptly, if you don't put enough guides on the bowstring effect will bend the blank unnaturally and effect strength also, there is however a time when another guide will not effect strength, or bend from it's natural state and slow blank response more than you would like,. Through testing on your own you can find that point of diminished return for each build. There really isn't a simple pat answer, there are to many blank types out there. Frankly I don't see nothing there that hasn't been known and discussed countless times on this site since it started.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/25/2023 05:33PM by Spencer Phipps.

If you want to know how the mass effect of more guides is affecting the rod then do True Natural Frequency with alternate setups. Opinions don't tell you anything of value, but by doing your own testing you can see what is actually going on.

It is the Fuji Concept system with extra guides. A guide 2" from the tip top does nothing. Once the line wave is eliminated by the second guide closest to the butt guide (stripper) the only thing you need is enough guides to keep the line straight and handle static load. I do believe the statement that more guides make it more sensitive because you have more points of contact on the line. By sensitive I am referring to vibration transmitted. However, your are changing the blank characteristics by adding the weight to the tip section with all those guides. I believe it to be a balance of components and this seems unbalanced.

The purpose of the guide 2" from the tip is to prevent tip wrap. Nothing else.

Make the guides smaller and you also reduce tip wrap without the extra guides.

You do not need to take any sort of measurements to tell the difference in a rod with more or less guides. You can feel it. If you take the Zenaq rod shake it, then take two or three or four guides off of it and shake it again. You can feel the difference in response. And tip wrap is not nearly as likely with dbl foot guides as it is with single foot guides. One of the reasons I dislike single foots is that they almost guarantee line wrapping on the upper third of the rod. The line gets caught in the junction between the ring and the blank with nothing there for it to slip down and off from. My guess is that Zenaq is simply trying to do something different in the hopes of gaining a sales edge. More guides is more better.... or something to that effect.

Spencer, I get the 2" part, kinda, but you're right about the huge guide size (just noticed that) as well as too many.( And I sometimes use more than I could get away with!)