I've been converted to building on the straightest axis by reading Tom Kirkman's article. As soon as you put guides on a rod and apply any pressure with line, the spine becomes completely irrelevant. Plus, building on the straightest axis makes lining up guides a heck of an easier task.
Forum: rodboard

Jesus. The way some of you belligerently attack producers trying to market their goods makes me wonder whether they will stick around and advertise their goods here on this board. I for one like them here and have gotten help from a few of them. There is a classy way to critique products and then there is the stuff above. Sheesh.
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YouTube has some great videos by mudhole tackle, Batson Enterprises, and Get Bit Outdoors. This is what I learned on. I have much to learn but all my rods have come out great so far and better than any store bought rod I ever owned. Also would really recommend against stripping down an ugly stick. If you take your time, do some research, ask the right questions, and you are at all handy, you
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Bill, I am also new here and would like to know how you tape things "the right way." What is the method of taping things so epoxy and other gels and liquids do not seep in under your taped-off section? Thanks! Carlos
Forum: rodboard

Hey guys, I think I have been putting on way too much epoxy on my reel seat arbor to blank connection points. I have used graphite reel seat arbors for all of my builds. I ream them out to where they are snug but not too tight. I then proceed to apply epoxy on my blank to the point where it accumulates quite thickly on the blank---1mm thick or so. I have noticed, however, that most of it does
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Yup! I have gone the past two years in a row ever since I got into it! I went with a friend the first year and that's when I got hooked. I mostly have just browsed around the event and talked to some of the people I have purchased components from. Everyone was extremely nice and offered me a lot of advice when I asked. Mudhole, Batson, Get Bit Outdoors, and Pac Bay, however, all went out of their
Forum: rodboard

Hello, I know this is kind of an odd post and if it's against the board's rules, I will gladly ask a moderator to remove it. That being said, I would be interested in getting some private lessons on rod-building. It is probably my biggest curse in life; if I find myself getting good or interested in something, I always have to go that extra mile. While I would love to take the time to lea
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Thank you, Tom. I will say, that "guides special edition" cd was great! It helped immensely in understanding one of the most important facets of rod building. Just to make sure, what you are saying is that I should not have a problem with going something along the lines of, #6 butt guide, #3 fly guides to the tip? All this contingent on the guides passing all needed connections and
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Hello all, I recently purchased the special edition of rodmaker's magazine on guides. I understood the articles in there and came up with the following guide layout for my particular rod: using PAC bay minimas, #8 casting butt guide, #6 casting second guide, #3 fly guides to the tip. The bumper is a #6 Casting guide like my second guide. My remaining questions are these: (1) is it necessary t
Forum: rodboard

Here's a quick question for y'all. I've only built one rod and it was a 7ft ultralight for trout, set up as a bass rod, which is the type of rod I am used to fishing. Micro guides, 27x, EVA foam, whole nine yards. Everything went perfectly and it is easily the best rod I have ever fished (it fits like a glove, casts like a dream, and the blank is amazing.) My only real issue during the bui
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Thanks a lot for the help guys. To be honest, I have only ever used a micro guide casting rod before. I put micros on my first rod I ever built and it's easily the best rod I've ever used (and I've owned my fair share of expensive, factory made rods.) I like the idea of micros but will have to test them out and see what they actually bring to the table for me. In my neck of the woods, we
Forum: rodboard

Hey all, Just wanted to see what kind of connections you guys are "needing to pass" out there... I am currently using 90% fluoro on all my rods. Thus, I do not need to pass any connections and so I plan on building most of my rods using "Pac Bay Minima 4" fly guides as "micro guides." However, when I go to the beach for the occasional in-shore trip, I will def
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Awesome! That's what I figured. I'll go ahead as planned.
Forum: rodboard

Hello all, First, let me begin by thanking all of you. I recently got a chance to fish with my first rod, an mhx UL blank with other carefully picked components. It was an incredible experience. Coincidentally, I had my best day of trout fishing in the NC mountains and my rod was truly, like nothing I have ever fished with. It was a dream come true to be able to use my own rod and catch count
Forum: rodboard

I have only built one rod but this was probably the hardest, if not the hardest part of the build for me. That's generally a good thing because, from what I read from some people, exact guide alignment isn't THAT critical of a factor. As long as you get it fairly close, that's all it takes. Like you, I tried a laser level. It did a pretty good job at giving me a general idea at what guides we
Forum: rodboard

I would say that you should also be very mindful of going with larger running guides than you might originally have anticipated. Anytime one punches, by definition, there is a lot of vegetation involved. This vegetation can mean anything from dense, leafy plants, all the way down to mossy scum, or even worse, that felt and cottony material that we get in a lot of reservoirs here in the South. The
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Hey guys, My first build is going along wonderfully. I'll tell you what, building scale model airplanes has been more than handy for this new venture! My BIGGEST problem to date, however, has been ordering the sizes for the different components of my build. While the winding checks and trim were easy to fit thanks to Mudhole's MHX spacing charts, other parts of the build have not been as
Forum: rodboard

One comment/observation. I am very new here and I am just building my first rod but I too am using the NGC system. After re-reading the article that is often posted around here to explain the ngc system, I verified my initial suspicion: the lip spool should be measured in Milimeters, and then multiplied by 27 in order to find the distance in Milimeters from the spool face to the choker guide.
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Awesome guys. Thanks a lot for the help. I'm getting ready to set them up!
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Hey all, Quick question for you. After you wrap your guides, how easy is it supposed to be to move the guides around? I ask because I watched "Get Bit Outdoors'" video on YouTube. After wrapping his guides, Kevin goes back and fine tunes his guides to make sure they are perfectly in place. When I do it, I can't really move them along the circumference of the blank. I can move the
Forum: rodboard

Yup! Good idea passing along the tip. Believe me it's tedious but, if you sit down and dedicate an afternoon teaching yourself how to fully use google, you will not want for knowledge ever again. I use the "Site:" command for a lot of my searches and it is simply awesome.
Forum: rodboard

Thanks guys! I'll take your advice, call them up on monday, and be on my way! Will post pics.
Forum: rodboard

Hey all, I am getting ready to build my first rod. I have been doing a lot of research by reading books, this forum, and watching a lot of youtube videos. I also have a friend of mine who has built quite a few rods and has helped me throughout the initial learning process. He will also supervise the harder parts of my first build. I do have one nagging question which remains unanswered, h
Forum: rodboard