If you are looking lower priced, I would go with Fuji Alconites. If you want to spend a little more money, I would go with American Tackle Titan titanium guides.
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I use a sewing guage that you can get at any sewing store. They are cheap and adjustable. Here is an example.
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1. Yes 2. I think J. Stockard, Shoff Tackle and Mudhole may still have those reel seats in stock. 2a. Bellinger makes some nice reel seats I would consider comparable or even better.
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There are three reels that would work very well with a 4wt, the 201M, the 101M and the 101L. My personal preference would be the 101M in titanium, but it is the heaviest of the three reels. The 201M is the lightest of the three. All have adequate backing capacity, but you could go up to the 2 series to get extra backing and reel diameter but a little more weight. I am not sure of the exact ba
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I like Lamson Reels the best, followed by Orvis reels. Both are reasonably priced and good quality. But, if I were buying a reel for a 5wt for fresh water use I would go with the Angler's Roost 102M. I don't know how he manages to get that quality reel for the price $55.
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If you are buying from Mudhole, call them up or e-mail them. They are super helpful. I haven't delt with the other vendors that carry the MHX blanks, but I'm sure they are the same.
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IM6 should not be an issue. It really doesn't tell you a lot about the blank. You need to find our what he will be using it for and what action he wants, i.e. fast, medium fast, medium. These are all subjective terms but if he is a knowlegeable fly fisherman, he should be able to give you a good idea of what he wants. All of the options I know of have been mentioned, except the Batson Rainsha
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I have built a 7' 6wt on a St. Croix 3S70MLF2 (SCIII) spinning rod blank. It is a 2 piece blank. It works great for short casts in tight quarters and has good backbone for fighting fish. I find short rods in the 6wt and up class, a little hard to cast, particularly if you do a lot of roll casting.
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I just tried the link to the data page and it seems to be working. Go to the CCS information page and there is a link on the lower left hand side of the page that says CCS Data. This link seem to work. It also includes some spinning and casting rod data.
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E-mail is unblocked. Thanks. It would be nice is someone stepped forward and maintained the CCS data site. It is an invaluable resource. Unfortunately, I don't have the expertise or time to do it.
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Does anyone have access to the CCS data that was on the CCS Data site. That was a lot of good information and I used it extensively when designing builds. Now it seems to be gone.
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I build mostly fly rods and agree with what Bill has told you. I don't personally like the RX6, but it is a nice rod for a beginner and the 6wt is a versitile rod. The only difference in layout I would recommend is to go slightly smaller on the running guides. I typically use a single 4 then 3's out to the end. I don't use tamer guides. I use single foot wire running guides. Here is a link
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Almost all the rods I see or build are 4 piece.
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Obvious answer is to call Batson. They are very helpful. I don't think using a dimmer switch is a good idea. Under certain conditions, it can burn out your motor.
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Marc - check your e-mail. I sent you a schematic for a Fenwick grip. Oops, your e-mail didn't work.
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I use the Fenwick style grip on almost all of my lower weight rods - 2, 3 and 4 wts. It is very comfortable and gives much better rod control than the reversed half wells, in my opinion. Here is link to one I built recently. This particular one is slightly oversized because it was built for a 6'6" basketball player with big hands.
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All of the spinning rods I build are for inshore salt in the Tampa area. My go to blanks are the Mudhole P843-2 and P844-2. If I remember the feel of the Tidemaster right, this blanks may be a little faster, but they have great tip sensitivity and backbone. These are two piece blanks but they come in 1 piece. I have built on the SJ843-2. It is nice, but doesn't quite have the sensitivity of
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On a spinning rod, the guide is on the bottom, so I usually tuck on the lower side of the rod, just before the last wrap reaches the point where it starts to lift up to go over the guide foot. The tucks where is start the wrap are on the bottom. I try to put all the tucks on the same side of the rod.
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On my 8wts I used single foot wire running guides. I use security wraps and have never had one pull out. My standard setup is 16, 12, 5, 3,3,3,3,3,3 with a large wire tip top. These are mostly saltwater rods. On larger wt rods I use Amtack Titanium Ring Lock guides which are very expensive.
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I'm not exactly sure what you have or what type rod, but as I understand it, there is a gap between the reel seat and the cork and both are glued on. If that is the case, you may be able to ream out a 1/4 inch cork or burl disk to fit the blank at that point, split it and fit it in the gap, glue it in place and then sand it to match the existing cork. I would try that before dumping the whole gr
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Probably a matter of personal preference, but I use single foot wire running guides on anything 8 wt or less and titanium ceramic guides on anything 9wt or more.
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Probably nowhere unless someone has some leftovers.
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Almost all of the rods I build, both conventional and fly, are multi piece rods. The weight difference is insignificant and the action difference is minimal. Multi-piece rods are also easier to transport and store. There are a number of 2 and 3 piece rods in the 6' to 7' range. The conventional rods I have built recently have been on 2 piece MHX blanks. I have also built on some St. Croix SC
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I personally would not go with ringed guides on a 6wt, but, if you do, you will definately have to use titanium guides. As far as the MHX 6wt blank goes, the CCS data indicates an ERN of 6.62 and an AA of 70. At those numbers, it is a fast rod and should be able to handle a little weight. Still, to keep the weight to a minimum I would use single foot wire running guides.
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Are you talking about taking the finish of the whole blank, or just on the guide wraps?
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I agree with what has been said above. If you want to save weight in the stripper guides, I would go with a 12 and an 8 AmTac NIRLC Titanium Ring Lock Casting/Stripper Guide. For the running guides use single foot REC guides 4, 3, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2 and a wire loop tiptop. That is a fairly expensive setup though and you will have to decide if the minimal weight saving is worth it. I personally w
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I also wondered how it could be epoxy, but I see its not. It will be interesting to see how it works. It would be nice to have a no mixing finish with water cleanup.
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If you had watched the whole thing you would have been amazed.
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If I were doing it I would do just what you are doing. Start with the 10'8" switch rod spacing, move everything back about 4", add a running guide at the tip, and then do some static and cast testing.
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I certainly defer to Tom in this matter, but I had the same thought as Tim, it looks like you end up with the traditional cone of flight layout. I have used the Fuji guide placement calculator, which uses not only Tom's 27X method but also uses reel angel to place the choker. You might try it to see if you come up with a different answer.
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