A couple details I found myself debating when putting a gunnel rod together (ie #6 bent butt sort to be used out of a swivel holder), were space between tip top & first guide, and how to set the stripper for proper loading, what are your thoughts?

On the tip top versus 1st guide, I've seen some professional builders literally making it so the foot on the 1st guide touches the shaft of the tip top. Also have seen them 8 inches apart. I noticed myself, with 80# Winthrops, there is some potential clearance issue where something like a crimp might clip the area of the tip top just aft of the roller if you put the 1st roller back too far, but also if you stuff the 1st guide up against the tip top, the 1st guide practically takes the place of the roller tip where you might see the line floating within the tip top and not on the roller at times. Also seems to create a strange structure if there is no space between tip top and 1st guide, like the first 4 inches of the tip is very rigid. What are the correct considerations here?

On the placement of the stripper guide. Is there a standard for how the loading should be? For instance I noticed up to about 10 lbs, this blank, the line ran on the top roller. At 15 lbs it kinda split the rollers, at 20 lbs it rested on the bottom roller, and as you got up into the drag range the rod would be used for (ie > 30 lbs) the line well-loaded the bottom roller. Of course, too far up the blank and you might clip the handle when the rod is loaded, but outside of that, what are the considerations to give locating a stripper guide?

Thanks in advance!

For general purposes, if you put the first guide about 5 inches behind the tiptop (roller to roller), you'll have a good starting place.

The butt guide (not stripper - those are on fly rods) is a bit more tricky. Due to the height of so many offshore type reels, you often find a top roller on the guide to keep the line within the guide frame until you get some line out and/or get a good load on the rod. You will want the line on the bottom roller before you reach a load that slips the drag (whatever that amount is for you). I can't give you a measurement without knowing the particular reel you'll be using, but this is a good place to start.

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