On a 6 or 6.5' rod, my spool centerline seems to be at the very tip.

This usually only happens on shorter rods. If you have a fast action blank, I'd flex it until it first forms a 90 degree bend. This should fall within the upper 1/3rd to 1/4 of the blank's length. Find the point where it first deviates from straight and begins to enter into that flex and locate your choke/intersect guide at that point. Set up as usual from there.

If the blank is a much slower action and flexes deeply into the mid or butt area, then I'd locate an arbitrary intersection point which would be a distance roughly 1/3rd the total from tip to the reel face.

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One day, some smart machinest will design a reel seat that pivots up and down- presumably adjustable with a set screw that is under the reel foot. This would allow you to point any reel directly at the first guide.

All this work we do tuning rods to specific reels conveniently ignores the fact that almost every angler buys a new reel every 2-3 years... Sometimes I wonder why I bother. I often encounter buyers who don't even know yet what reel they will use on a given rod- and I myself have 3 different spinning reels I may use on any given rod on any given day depending on what I'm fishing for.

I guess my advice would be similar to Tom's second suggestion- which boils down to "just wing it" (although I freely admit that "locate an arbitrarty intersection point" sounds a lot more sophisticated). Either that, or go buy a new reel with a steeper spool angle.

That's certainly a good point about the reels. The important thing is that the line can travel a straight path from the butt guide to the intersect guide and then straight to the tip top.

Keep in mind that regardless of spool upsweep, the line coming off the reel does not go where the reel points - it falls (is pulled) downward. Gravity sees to that. Aiming the reel at the butt guide or having a reel with more upsweep does not necessarily improve casting. As long as the reel is level or has perhaps a couple degrees upsweep, I think you've done all you can do with the reel.

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I just finished a rod (for myself), that is now on the drying rack. Mine came out pretty close to the end. I moved it a bit, mainly so I would have good spacing for the small guides on the end. I can look down through the stripping guide, and they line up perfectly. Tom, is this not the main goal? This puts my reel slightly off, but I can live with that. John Butterfield

You're on the right track. I suspect you're going to like the way your rod casts.

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Because of the issue with reels, I started using the equal distance guide setup formulas recommended by Rich Forhan in a past Rodmaker Magazine (I think May/June 02?). Quick & easy and if there is a performance difference, it's only a very few feet of max casting distance at most.

Just taped guides on a rod that I'm reguiding for a friend. His reel foot was bent couldn't get choke point. Put like reel that wasn't bent on and placed guides with it . Test cast both reels cannot tell any differance in the way they cast.

Wayne

Exactly. The spool upsweep simply gives us a convenient method for getting started and locating a position for the intersect guide, but an arbritrary location, as long as it's reasonable, will get the job done just as well.

I think the next step in the evolution of the New Guide Concept System, will be to locate the intersect point on a set of criteria based on blank flex/action rather than reel spool upsweep.

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I don't know if it's been mentioned before, but you can 'cant' the reel down by installing your reel seat at a angle. If you use Fuji graphite inserts this is really easy--all you have to do is ream one of them off-center.

Good luck!