I usually just do it by eye but usually takes a while tweaking them around. Any tips or tricks for this?

I align by eye like you, Chan. It does take time to get it right.

I look for symmetry in the shape of the guide that sticks out past the blank edge - I want equal amounts of guide frame shape on both sides. A white background with good lighting helps me see this better.

It also helps if I put my rod in a stand and look down from directly overhead. Again, I look for equal shapes on each side of the blank edge or an imaginary centerline.

Installing my reel to get the butt and second guide positioned is useful; I then remove the reel and align the rest of the guides from there.

Without fail, I have to do a little tweaking after wrapping.

Put it in the search function "all dates" then make a pot of coffee, you'll be in front of the computer a while.

I do it by eye. The only tip I have to offer is to take the rod outside and point it to the sky. I find that really helps me see the alignment better than indoors alone.

We do it by eye and are known for how straight our guide trains are.

White background helps
Good light helps

Usually, the first few guides (strippers) are pretty easy to line up with the seat. When our employees are struggling with the tip guides (runners) - I will have them set the rod in a hand wrapper to secure it and look from the tip to the butt. That really seems to help them look at it differently and see why they aren't lined up. Gives a different perspective.

Chan,
One tip that I found to be useful, is that when doing the final guide alignment, flip the rod over so that you are looking at the non guide side of the blank. Then, sight down the non guide side of the rod. While sighting down the guide slowly rotate the rod checking for when each guide pops into sight. Make mental notes of what you see.

Then, slowly rotate the rod in the opposite direction.

Now, think back to the first rotation and double check that as the rod is rotated in each direction that you see the largest guide - closest to the grip pop into view first and then have the corresponding smaller guides pop into view in an orderly fashion from the largest to the smallest - when rotating the rod in each direction.

Remember, this is the final triple check of the alignment after all of your alignment from the guide side of the rod.

NOTE:
Just before you place the rod on the setup for finish application - check the guide alignment. Then, do a final triple check of the guide alignment after you have removed the rod from the dryer before shipping.

It happens that no matter a builders best effort that a guide alignment gets moved during finish application. This is never good news - but that particular guide alignment needs to be resolved before delivering to the client. It won't be easy. It won't be nice, but it must be done before shipping because a quality builder can NOT let a rod leave the shop with misaligned guides. I let that happen one time. To resolve the issue for the client, I build the client an entirely new rod, and shipped it to the client at no charge. But, since I burned myself the one time, I do my level best to avoid from that problem ever happening again.

Stuff happens - and you must deal with the fall out.

Best wishes.

I only build for myself, son, and father in law. I have some early builds that have a few guides not perfect. Doesn’t affect the performance, but it still bothers me. Alignment has improved a lot for me. Not perfect yet, but getting there. It’s probably the toughest thing for me on the entire build. I beat myself up over it. I check it SO many times, take it outside, get a 2nd set of eyes by letting my son and wife look it over.

My wife has a very good eye and helps me align guides. She holds the rod steady with the guides on top, and starting with the tip top has me move the guides one direction or the other to get them in a straight line with the center of the reel seat. This two person method goes very quickly since no time is wasted moving one guide and then repositioning the rod to move the next one. She keeps both eyes open when aligning, so there is no bias in one direction over the other. Never ever had a complaint about misaligned guides. She has literally helped with 1000s of rods. In my opinion two people are better than one.
Norm

Norman Miller Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My wife has a very good eye and helps me align
> guides. She holds the rod steady with the guides
> on top, and starting with the tip top has me move
> the guides one direction or the other to get them
> in a straight line with the center of the reel
> seat. This two person method goes very quickly
> since no time is wasted moving one guide and then
> repositioning the rod to move the next one. She
> keeps both eyes open when aligning, so there is no
> bias in one direction over the other. Never ever
> had a complaint about misaligned guides. She has
> literally helped with 1000s of rods. In my opinion
> two people are better than one.
> Norm

I’ll have to try that out. Sounds like a great system