Tom,
I read your posts on "spine" with interest.
In view of your results with a casting machine indicating that the so called "spine" has no significant effect on casting accuracy or other performance characteristics, would you advocate abandoning placement of guides according to this criterion?
In my opinion, it is long overdue that the contoversial spine concept was put to an objective test and find it amazing that such a theory could be so widely accepted without any kind of validation.
Any thoughts of publishing your results in Rod Maker ?
Thanks in advance for your time.
Eden

The theory or the myth or whatever you want to call it, has lived on largely because any tests done involved the human element. You can't make verbatim casts - not as long as a human is doing the casting. Also, our minds tend to inflate or deflate whatever it is we want to prove or disprove. I know guys that claim that their single foot ceramic fly guides are giving them 30% more distance than a similar rod with snake guides gives them. Obviously, it doesn't, but if they tend to get excited they can often see results, or lack of results, depending on their frame of mind.

I probably need to dust off the "machine" and refit it and go thru everything again. What we seem to forget, is that the lure or line goes where the tip of the rod goes. And twisting or torqueing of the tip does not necessarily change that casting plane. A crooked blank, where the tip is very much out of line with the butt and mid section areas, does seem to cast off to one side or the other. This is simply because the tip is already traveling outside of what we think is our casting plane.

There's so much more we could go into and it would be a fairly simple matter to rig things up and set up some good tests that could be made without any human element involved. I'll try to get something underway for a future issue. It just takes a bit more time that I have to give it these days.

I do want to say that none of this would mean the spine is unimportant - you can still vary subtle characteristics of your rod by spine orientation. But casting accuracy and stability under load are determined by things other than the spine.

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Thanks, for the response Tom.
For me as a flyfisherman, casting accuracy definitely ranks as one of the most important criteria.
If I want to vary power, I will use the appropriate blank, rather than trying to detect and orientate "spine".
Regards
Eden

Casting distance is another discussion. We hear some say that orienting the spine one way or the other adds or detracts distance. But again, that depends on the load you're putting on the rod. There is a subtle difference, powerwise, from the spine to any other axis. At some point you will find a stiffest and softest axis (though they won't be 180 degrees opposite normally). Which is the best to put where, again depends on the load you're putting on the rod. It's wrong to catagorically state that a particular spine position will net you more casting distance. Depending on the load involved, it could net you less.

All interesting topics we'll have to devote more time to in future articles.

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This subject reminds me of one that comes up a lot in my other hobby, hombrewing beer. People will debate the pros and cons of numerous brewing techniques, all of which, in theory, will make a better tasting beer. But every time there's a blind taste test, the theory either goes out the window or the theorhetical benefits are undetectable. Here's one I love and I'll share with you: "Never sparge your mash with more than .5 gallons of water per pound of grain or you will leach tannins from the grain hulls that will give your beer an unpleasant bitterness". Yeah, you heard me....never do that.

Okay, now stop laughing, people actually say and believe these things. Let's be sensitive to their belief system. My position on these things is that if it tastes good, then it is good beer. Likewise if it fishes good then it is a good rod.

Cheers!

I was talking to a G Loomis rep and he said Loomis doesn't locate the spine on any of their factory rods when they build them. If that's good enough for them, its probably good enough for me.

George

They locate the straightest axis. That's how most do it. They know the customers sight down the rods while they hold the guides up or down and don't want them to see a crook or bend to one side. That's what you'll see if you build on the spine. Is it better? I don't think so but to each his own.

Mike,
You said: " Is it better? I don't think so but to each his own".
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In my opinion, yes, it is definitely better.
Then again there are those that still believe that the earth is flat!
Sorry couldn't resist!!
Eden