I have read and re-read the FAQ's about spine.

When you put a bend in the blank, it forms a curve. Does one put fly rod guides on the inside the curve or on the outside of the curve?

If that is a matter of opinion, what do most poeple do most of the time?

Bill

It is a matter of opinion - there is no correct nor incorrect place to put them. Check further on the FAQs page for the 3 most popular placements and what each will lead to.

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Out of habit, on a straight blank I usually put them on the inside of the curve. If the blank is crooked I build on the straightest axis and ignore the spine.

On a fly rod I always put my guides on the side opposite the curve.

In the most recent issue of RobMaker (Vol 7 – Issue #2), in a very interesting interview with Press Powell, he stated in part, the following: “We’ve always mounted all of our rods by sight…” and, “We’ve always mounted on the opposite side of the natural curve…” and finally, “…and we have never had a complaint, not one complaint.”

That is, I think, more than a fair recommendation for mounting opposite the curve.

But since there are those who will swear that you must mount on the curve, it may well point out that on a fly rod, it really does not matter where you mount the guides. With a fly rod, there is no worry about twist. Perhaps the really most important element is the way the rod looks, laying in hand before the cast.

I find, particularly on fly rode, that spine placement makes a difference.
Since the line travels the way the tip was moving when the rod is stopped, any un-intended deflection can throw the cast off line!

That is exactly why spine orientation is often less important than the blank's natural curvature. A blank that twists around a central axis will not cast off line. But one where the tip is on a different track or plane than the butt is something altogether different.

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I knew a rod builder who loved to tinker. He wanted to answer the "which side of the spine do you put the guides on" question...so he put guides on both sides! Then he took the fly rod to a rod builder's picnic along with a questionaire to fill out. Everyone cast the rod and filled out the questions...turns out that about half liked to cast with guides on one side, half on the other! He also got about the same results for casting accuracy and distance...go figure. Of course, some will say that the extra guides skewed the test rod...its all a tempest in a teapot as far as I'm concerned. Pick a side and stick with it...just make sure that the guides are all lined up straight...sometimes that is the hardest part of the whole deal!

2 cents,

Tim

Hi fellas, an introduction to myself.
I have been snooping here on the site for a few months just to see what was going on and to check out the details, and I finally feel the need to say something. I have been building rods for myself, family and friends on and off for about 25 years, and have been an avid fly line slinger for longer than that. Here is a little spine experiment I did a year or so ago to check out the difference of spin top, or spine bottom on a fly rod.
I purchased two old loomis imx 9' 4 wt. blanks, both taken from a pile (and no i will not give up my source) hand selected by me for straightness, both rods under weight flexed to my eye the same. I then used identical jewelery, and spacings. If you have ever done this you would realize there is a tremendous difference in where you put the spine on a fly rod, the two rods were so different that there was no similarity at all.
the main thing about a fly rod and the spine down, or wrapped with the guides on the spine, is pick up! At around a 30-40 foot pick up, the rod with the spine on top would not consistently generate enough line speed to start building a loop, in comparison to the bottom spine rod, which did. This experiment was done on the water, and I admit, not real scientific, but I have waved a stick long enough to tell me I had wasted a perfectly good blank.
I fished both rods over a 3 day trip and grew to hate the rod with the spine on top. Not only was the pick up mushy compared to the bottom spine but the whole energy for casting, was way out of synch when compared with a traditionally spined rod. If you want to see for yourself try it out. I especially think that rod builders who don't live, breath and eat fly fishing should take note. Every factory built rod I have, is spined on the bottom, which are orvis scott and a quiver full of loomis. there is a reason for it.
Another experiment I tried afterwards was to just spin the rod in my hand and try a pick up and false cast that way. I have a gl3 that I will sometimes turn sideways when I cast it, to negate the spine completely when I want a different presentation.
Well! thats my 2cents worth. Hope no one grades on spelling and grammer here!! Gene LaDassor

I think you misinterpreted several things. First, those two blanks were not the same. All blanks even of the same model will differ slightly in power. Next up, the blank you say did not pick up line very well may have been of a different power, or enough so that you did not have the correct load on it. You have had it overloaded. Had you dropped back a bit on the amount of line you were picking up, you might have found that one was the better one for line pick up.

I have never, ever seen a factory fly rod that paid any attention to the spine. All are built along the blank's straightest axis which is also it's most powerful axis by just a bit.

I think the simplest way to kill this arguement would be to test cast both ways and determine what you like best. Tape the guides and reel down, cast it, reverse to otherside, repeat. What felt better to YOU?

Gene,
One of Loomis's top engineeers, told me they do not test for a spine. They build by straightness only. ????? John Butterfield

While, I don't think copying factory construction techniques is necessarily the way way to go, when you consider such quality names as Loomis, Sage, and Powell don't worry about spine, it's worth noting at least.

Personally, I've determined that I am not personally capable of detecting the difference in feel but I can notice a crooked blank by sight and some casting accuracy effect (I think but wouldn't really care to test empirically). My experience with the CCS has given me more evidence that I can't detect spine effect. 1 or 2 pennies, maximum, is not the sort of thing I can detect in actual fishing.

I called Sage a while back, and they told me that they do not spine their factory rods.