Hi Folks, a couple of weeks ago I bought a four piece Loomis GLX Blank 9´, 6 wt. When I finished the rod I was unhappily suprised how soft and weak the rod worked. Not as fast and stiff as I know the factory built rods that I have been casting before. It seems to me that I held a totaly different kind of rod in hands. So does anybody has an idea what happend or if Loomis changed the blend of
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I just read an old post by Tom Kirkman and some lights went on in my head. "The spline isn't a physical thing, but an effect," he explained. I'm a bit slow about understanding that, and for some reason, re-reading that post I finally made a connection. But I do have a question: As you hold the rod in your hands in a pronounced curve and roll the blank, it usually jumps to what feels
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Hey guys, when spining a float rod especially a long rod with light action...Woudl you place the guides on the inside of the curve or place the guides on the natural droop when holding the rod parallel to the ground. What happens most of the time on long light rods, is they droop due to gravity and the weight of them. However, the spine of the rod does not always match this droop. Just want so
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Hello to all- I know the spine must be determined on a modern graphite blank, but what about the old spiral wound glass rods? I'm guessing that they don't but I did want to make certain. Thanks to all. Ed
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hi again all, i just got a 4 piece blank (4 wt) for a rod for me. i've aligned for the spline, but when i sight down the blank, the tip curves off to the right. what does this mean? should i align the tip section so that it curves up? what does this mean in terms of both action and power? My gut tells me that if i turn the curve down (so that the tip curves down away from the spline
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Hello, I have been hearing a lot about the rainshadow blanks and recieved their catalog. They say they check their blanks for straightness and proper spline deflection. Now, I have been using St. Croix, cause its what I started with and I am wiery about switching to something I have never casted. On the most recent one, a 8'0" 4wt SCIV. I noticed when checking the spline on the tip section,
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Hi all My question is, even though I followed the spine vs. guide placing on a blank comments (where the spine position is not that important), the picture of lifting up heavy weight tarpon "tells" me that the stiffer spine should be facing this tremendous flection. Is my thought right or wrong ?? Thanks
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I've learned a lot in my time here and have gradually changed the way I've been doing some things on custom rods. When I started building there was a proper place to locate the spine. High for throw, low for flow, or something to that effect. Anyway I've started rebuilding some of my older rods. Some of the first ones I ever did. I stripped everything off and went back with new grips, new seats,
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stuck a new blank I ordered in the spine finder It seems to have two spines 180 degrees apart has anyone ever experienced this before?the rod is a two piece 10 ft spinning rod blank the tip section has a natural curve following one of the spines I marked so Im pretty safe in guessing which spine to use for it but the butt section has no noticable curve so Ill probably just pic one and go for it.
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As I am building my first rod I stared to wonder what would be the effect if someone built the rod on the wrong (or opposite side) of the spine? I followed Garcia's book and I am pretty sure I got it right but couldn't help but wonder. Would it ruin the rod or be a minor issue? Thanks Jeff
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Hi Building my first rod based on a Sage Xi2 8# 4-pieces. I've gotten a lot of useful tips on this site but still have a couple of questions. First: The Sage Xi2 costs 900USD (here in Norway), so I want to get this right. Since it is my first rod, I am most focused on the performance of the rod(still want it to look good though). 1. Little confused about the underwrapping. Is this needed i
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Hi I am relatively new to rod building, started out just repairing a few old rods I had, and started building with good kits from 2 of the boards sponsors. I built a conventional 6.5 ft boat rod for my son and am in the process of building a conventional reel boat rod for myself using a calstar GF700M. I have learned a lot from this board and I thank all who are members for the wealth of
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For guide placement I follow the traditional " bend the blank until it rolls to a relaxed state, mark the outside of the curve and place my guides on that side". I've done all of my rods this way so far. However, I thought I read somewhere on this site once you get to heavier weight rods (and I don't know what the limit was) you should put the guides opposite of the effective spine
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I am building a surf rod on a Breakaway 1387 blank. I'm using the Bumper Wrap layout to make this a Baitcaster. I got some advice from board members on guide sizes. 25; 20; 16;16;12;12;12; 12 Top and a 12 Bumper Guide. I have already taped them up and tested the stress distribution. Everything seemed excellent and although Ihave not cast it I can tell it is a great layout. I oriented the to
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Rolling the blank while the butt is on a table top and the the upper end of the rod is in my palm the blanks take a set or a bow. Is the outside of the curve the spine side or is the inside of the curve the spine side? For a casting rod will the guides go on the inside line or the outside line? Is it the same for both spinning and casting?
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I am presently building a four piece six weight fly rod using a PacBay Traditions blank. When I splined the pieces of the blank, there was a slight curve in the blank in theupper two sections. I went ahead and wrapped the rod neglecting the curve. After viewing the guides and tip top I am not pleased with the look of the rod with the slight curve in the top two sections of the rod blank. My q
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Please forgive a novice question but I have to ask. In Tom Kirkmans' book he talks about the "hard side" of the blank,,that little area that the blankwants to roll away from left or right. Assuming that you are applying pressure and rolling as you would to find the natural place of rest,,,my question is,,as you find the spot on the blank that it wants to jump away from,,is it on the o
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I use the marble and shot glass method for finding the spine and make my marks on the inside of the flexed blank where it wants to come to rest. I don't know if that's the effective spine or what but what would be the advantages of placeing the guides 180° of those marks? This is for a spinning rod. I was just wondering what effects it would have on casting and fish fighting.
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Tom I just read your book on rod building. When you spoke about finding the spine you said that sometimes you may need to reverse the spine to make a rod stronger. When building stand-up rods 30# and larger would this be the case??
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I have read the FAQ's about this but I am still a bit confused. Is it the recommended practice to put the spine on the bottom in line with the fly reel? Thanks, Spencer Largo, Florida
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The only blank I have, I heard my friend order it over the phone, way last november. All I heard him say was a tip flex, IM6 Factory grade 1, 9' 4wt. I know IM6 refers to modulus. but I've only heard of IM6 & 7. How would you order a higher modulus? Also I have read about the ERN of a rod? How do you order a rod and specify all these things.....should I just be asking these questions of a r
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Tom, or others, would you please answer my latest four questions on the topic Kazillion Spine Questions so I can stop taking Zanax and go to sleep at night. I am kinda a newbie to this board and since the topic is now on page two....I don't know if anyone is going to read it. If my own answers are correct to those 4 questions I will have finally settled it in my mind. Jim Williams
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I posted this as a question on the tag end of a post on spine question but had no response, I thought I would submit the question as a topic of its own. However, my intention is not to once more wade into the troubled waters of "To Spine or Not To Spine" but rather to see if there is an knowledge out there as to any historical reason why spine has come down to use as being so importan
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Sorry, I can't research ten thousand messages which may have covered my questions. But, all I have read so far does not answer my questions, just creates more. I just don't understand all I know.........? I have read that there is a soft spine AND a hard spine AND separate from boaf of them, there is just a stiffer plane of the blank! uh.....I have so many questions I don't know where to start. B
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I'm building on two heavy Calstar blanks for a friend. Both are stand-up rods with a bit lighter tips than the trolling series, a 50lb class and 80lb class. I tried to find the spine for about 30 minutes on this thing. Couldn't find a pronounced spine no matter how hard I tried. I know that rods without any noticable spine are highly desirable, my only concern is that this thing is just so heavy
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I'm trying to find the spine on a Rainshadow 4 piece fly rod. I spined each section. I put the top two sections together and they spined together perfectly. I put the bottom two together and they are good too. I assembled the upper and lower section and spined the whole rod. Needless to say it didn't spine well then. So my question is do you rotate the bottom section till the upper section marks
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Hello, I am currently in the process of figuring out the guide placement on a short 3wt flyrod. I just finished reading the FAQ "5. Where should I locate the spine on my rod blank in relation to the guides? " I was a little confused by the "spine on top" vs "spine on bottom" thing. What I really couldn't figure out is whether spine on top means that the guides a
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i have read many of books, and i am wery confused about where to put my guides. some say put them on the spine, other say 180 degrees.then some other smart aleck told me to put them 90 dg of the spine. on the first rod i build (who we do not speak of. so i call myself a first time rodbuilder) . i placed them directly on the spine. then i was told that the rod probanly will snap at the top, becaus
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I'm doing a 7' one piece bass spinning blank and I can't decide what to do. The blank has a slight curve near the tip. If I spine the rod, the curve is a little to the left near the tip. Would you go ahead and wrap the rod with the guides so the rod looks the straightest when sighting down it or would you go ahead and wrap it with the spine as the determining factor. I know Sage sends out a lot o
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Quick question. Building a 136 1M Lami cut 4 inches from the butt. I put it in the spine finder and it has a definitive spine (affect) LOL! In any event, it's obvious the blank wants to be in that spot under load, but when sighting down the blank this side has the worst bend (left). I have built numerous long rods, yet have not had one with this much bend. There is a straight side, but if I put
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