Glenn, I built a conventional 808 Neo last winter. I wasn't satisfied with the results using 3 kw reduction and 7 kb 6 running guides, 10 guides in total. It reminded me of an old (70's) ugly stick we rebuilt in the 90's. We ended up using spinning guides to raise the line up high enough not to rub the blank. When I set the 808 Neo up as a simple spiral things got very much better. 10 guides plu
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Joe, I have both blanks but have only built on the MB 733. Some blanks are special, this is one. I put a little Curado 70 on it with #20 braid and using a 1/2 oz casting plug throwing alongside my dock so I can judge the distance it gets 200' plus or minus about 10'. It feels really nice loading and is the most sensitive rod I've ever used. This afternoon I threw a couple of jigs to give you som
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Spent the afternoon reading up on guides using the search engine until I became the latest convert to the KR concept. KL25H, KL12H and KL7M it is with KB/KT7 runners to give me a chance at using that 80 lb leader. :-) One quick question. Should I bump the KL7M up to a KL8M so there is a "step down" to a #7 runner or is the KL7M a better fit to end the reduction train? Norman I stoped b
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Thanks everyone for the replies, they certainly pointed me in the right direction. Sorry it's taken so long to get back to you guys. Something came up and we had to go out to Duke and see a guy about an ablation . I lofted out the Neo 808 and it looks like a reduction train using kw 30, kw 25, kw 20, kw 12 and then 5 kw 8's for running guides. A four guide reduction train seems to be one more t
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Michael I'll be using a 40-50 lb leader on a Shimano Spheros 5000. The spool has a 2" dia. When I look at the tutorial on Anglers Rsrc it doesn't seem to cover a rod using braid heavier than 20 lb.
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I'm building a couple of spinning rods for drum fishing and could use some help with the reduction guides. The blanks are the NFC Neos, both the x-ray808 and the x-ray 765. They'll have a 5000 reel with 30lb braid and most of the fish are in the 40 lb class. I'll be using fuji kw guides. On the 808 I'm thinking of using #8 runners and #6 runners on the lighter 756. I think I should start off with
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Mike thanks for the reply and it helped me realize I need to restate what I'm up against. When I'm drum fishing with bait I want to use my Avits which are right hand reels. For sight casting I feel it's time to upgrade my reels and I would like to switch over to reeling left handed (I'm about to upgrade my left rotator cuff to a new titanium one and hopefully it will turn a reel better than my ol
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Wrapped the guides except for the bumper on the first rod today and I've come up with a couple of questions for the forum. I've always used right handed reels and have read on here that you run your spiral on the same side of the blank as your reel handle which would put my bumper on the right side of the rod as viewed from above the reel. I'm considering switching to a left handed reel. It seems
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Lance actually one clear, sunny, calm morning cobia fishing my boat rolled upside down and all my rods fell out and THAT's why I'm getting new ones! That being said I do have some opinions on conventional casting reels. In salt water the metal in Diawas has always held up better than that in Shimanos for me. Except for a Shimano MG(magnesium) I have- go figure. Also I like the convenance of magne
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Lance actually one clear, sunny, calm morning cobia fishing my boat rolled upside down and all my rods fell out and THAT's why I'm getting new ones! That being said I do have some opinions on conventional casting reels. In salt water the metal in Diawas has always held up better than that in Shimanos for me. Except for a Shimano MG(magnesium) I have- go figure. Also I like the convenance of magne
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Well Lance I'd say you have defined the term "custom rod" with that build. Those guides certainly are a good fit for my throw it in the back of the truck and take off down the road mentality. For the last 20 years I've been using scrim rods with 40% glass built by Biscayne Rods. They are tough but I've decided to modernize a little ,thus the NFC's. You have a really good reel there, the
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Thanks Ken, I'll be sure to try that when I tape the guides up for some casting and pulling dry runs.
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Thanks everyone for your replies. And thank you Tom for putting together this forum, it's a great way to get Information on building rods.
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Dennis I think Ray has made a good workable suggestion to figure out if the harder and resin were combined or not. I live in a boat building community where Gougeon epoxy is sold by the 50 gal drum and sales reps visit and give talks. The first thing they stress is to treat epoxy as a chemical formula (in your case one to one) in order for it to harden as advertised. The second is temperature(war
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Norm, when you say a low profile bumper do you mean you would use another frame style other than a kw? If so what frame would you consider? Thanks.
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Mike thank you for your reply. I went on some of the sponsors web sites to look at single foot fly rod guides and structurally what you are suggesting certainly makes sense but it seems like those low guides would introduce line slap against the rod during a cast and our cobia fishing is sight fishing (as opposed to bottom fishing) throwing bucktails and a little distance can sometimes mean a lo
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First post here. Looking to build a few rods and wanted to get some input from forum members on guides as things seem to have changed a little since the days of winding using telephone books. I've got three NFC's to use for drum and cobia rods and I'm planning on a simple spiral wrap. I'll be using Avet SX's on two of them and a Diawa Lexa on the other. The line (50lb braid) comes off the Avets 2
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