I also never prep guides for wrapping. At the very most I might rough the toe up a little with a diamond nail file to help the thread climb the toe easier, but not enough to remove the finish. Norm
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If it's me, I would do it as a KR concept, as I outlined above. With that said, you could certainly go KW10, KW7, to KB6, followed by you KT5 runners, to save yourself from spending more money, and having left over guides that you won't use. It will work just fine. A casting rod setup is very forgiving. Since you are not going to use any more KB runners do a locking wrap. I personally think Mudho
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If using a grease pencil then goo gone or goof off will work well. In any case, I would get rid of the grease pencil, I dislike them. I much prefer the water color pencils. Norm
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The the guide kit and spacing chart given by Mudhole, are Mudhole’s guide kit and spacing chart, not Fuji’s! If you want to do a KR Concept for your casting rod then do it as recommended by Fuji. Since you are using titanium framed guides, you can use either an RV6 or a KW10 as the stripper, followed by a KW5.5, or KB5.5 (or use your KB6). The RV6 or KW10 give you the right height for the stripp
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I use a water color pencil for marking guide placement on my blanks. A damp cloth easily removes the marks. As John mentions denatured alcohol should remove marks made by most types of marking pens. For tip-top/reel seat alignment, I wrap a piece of blue masking tape around the blank and mark alignment with a sharpie on it rather than on the blank. Norm
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Not sure if you are talking about a casting rod or a spinning rod. If spinning I would certainly go with a KR concept set up using a KL20H based reduction train (KL20H, KL10H, KL5.5H) followed by KB/KT runners in the size you like. I personally prefer size 4.5 runners with two KB guides after the reduction train and the rest being KT guides to the tip. I think the KL20H stripper will work a litt
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The MHX travel blank TFW841-3 might work for you. I have not built on this particular blank but have on a couple of others. They are quite nice. The break down length is about the same as a 9’ 4 piece fly rod. For more money there is the Phenix travel rod, again in three pieces, but from what I have heard a very nice blank . Four piece spinning blanks are difficult to find. Norm
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Yes, I have built several. It’s a great Blank, you will love it! I have built them both conventional, with the guides on top, and spiral wrapped. Place the RV 6 stripper 20” in front of the spool. It has plenty of power in the butt section, and fast tip allows for great casting performance. It is one of my most favorite blanks. Norm
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I think you will be quite surprised how concentric your grips will be. Norm
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Coarse, medium and fine sand paper are all you need for cork and foam. A file also comes in handy. Norm
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I think this is a very good example of what makes a custom rod custom. It all about doing what you like, not what someone else likes. Little things like a reel seats and grips can make a difference. Norm
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I personally dislike uplocking reel seats on spinning rods. In my experience, they seem more prone to loosening during use. Because of this I mount my spinning reel seats in the down locking position, in other words with the threads forward. Also by putting the threads forward you gain a few inches of rod length in front of the spinning reel spool. Norm
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With 5’6” blank you really don’t need a long handle. A rear grip of 4” to 7” will work. Mount the reel seat down locking and use a hidden thread hood like a Fuji KDPS or KSSKS hood with a cork, Eva, or carbon fiber hood sleeve. A down locking reel seat effectively gives you an extra couple of inches of rod length in front of the reel spool, which in my opinion is a plus. Norm
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It’s plenty strong enough. Norm
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The trouble with a foam bush method while turning is getting around the rod supports holding the rod in place. However this method does work well, if you make sure to cover the bare area left around the rod support. I find it much easier and quicker to wipe on the finish using a foam cosmetic pad, or a piece of cheese cloth or a coffee filter, they all work and are lint free. Basically just satur
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If you are talking about U-40 Permagloss as the finish, I apply 2 coats or so before wrapping by wiping on. Do a search a lot of information on how to apply it, just do the search for all dates. Norm
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I feel the same as Micheal, I use Fuji KB/KT guides. I trust them and they work great. Norm
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I’m not a big fan of using a fly rod Blank for a spinning rod. Just too sloppy for my taste, but that’s just my opinion. If you want to use a long spinning rod get a salmon/steelhead Blank. Norm
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Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Norm
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Use contact cement to glue on your abrasive strip. Coat the both reamer and the back of you abrasive strip let dry for 15 min or so and then tightly wrap the abrasive strip onto the the reamer. Contact cement holds up much better to frictional heat than does epoxy. Your reamer set should have come with a few small rolls of abrasive strips, if not buy a large roll Norm
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You just want to get a blank that will easily cast the lures or baits he is going to use. For most of my Redfish and speckled sea trout fishing is done with lures or baits that weigh less than one ounce. Medium to medium heavy bass or popping rods will work just fine. Norm
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It reams just fine. Norm
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Back in the 70’s and early 80’s I built a number of rods using the Fuji Lew’s speed grips. These haven’t been sold for a long time and for good reason, they were quite heavy and not very sensitive. I used to have a box full of these old grips which i gave away to someone here who wanted them. If you want to build a pistol grip it’s easy enough to do using the ready made pistol grips which are ava
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I really like the Minima M guides on UL and L powered rods, I use the 16M, 8M, 5M reduction train on rods using small 500 to 2000 size reels. On L to M powered rods I may use the 20M, 10M, 5M reduction train when using larger reels, and/or on rods longer than 7’6”. The 16M reduction train really works extremely well. The small difference in height from the KLH guides is not a big deal for me, bu
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If you want to use KR-like guides there are a couple of options. The SeaGuide XOHG, XOMG, and XOG guides have a two different gold frames listed as color options. You could check with Rod Builders Warehouse to see if they can get you these guides in either of the gold colors. Another option is the PacBay Minima match (M) and fly (F) guides. They come in a Minima3 version with a black frame and g
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I always measure from the front of the reel to the stripper/butt guide. The position of the reel can vary depending on whether the reel seat is in the up locking or down locking position, can make a difference of a few inches. For a low profile casting reel the first guide is usually 18 to 21” in front of the reel. For a spinning rod this distance can vary depending on the size of the reel, the b
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The modern high frame smaller ring spinning guides have been shown to better control and choke the line coils coming from the spinning reel. This helps to eliminate line slap friction and thus results in longer and smoother casts. Also by reducing the ring size of the guide while maintaining height helps to decrease the overall weight of the reduction train guides. High frame small ring guides, s
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I always use a fluorocarbon leader, no problem walking the dog. Norm
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There is Hitena thread. They have lots of colors. Norm
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That will work just fine. You will be surprised how easy it is. Norm
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