In an effort to advance my guide placement knowledge, I spent most of the afternoon doing research. Not surprising, there's actually quite a bit of information available on the internet. I found old articles on "equal angle" and setting up peg boards and concentric circles, etc... and information on New Guide Concept. But, the one article that delivers the message in a simple, concise a
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I have two questions on unrelated topics . Hope it's okay to combine them into a single post . #1 In Rich Forhan's articles in the latest issue of RodMaker , he mentions using guide spacing of 5-6-7 down to the spiral wrap where he uses 6-6-6 . What does he mean by these number sequences ? #2 I have noticed that on several spinning surf casting rods in the 10 to 11 foot range the number o
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I’m sure this has been discussed. I stopped at a custom rod builder in my neck of the woods to buy a tip top and hook keeper, which I always forget to order. I brought a couple of rods to critique. I’ve only made 5 or 6. He said I was doing alright, but my spine was off on my baitcasting rod. Thought I paid close attention to the right spot. He then explained how I should’ve put the first 2 g
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I saw these a while ago, has anyone used these reels? They can be put on a spinning rod and the reels weight is under the rod. I poster picture
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I was at a fishing show and 1 vendor had a spiral wrap spinning rod has anyone ever build one and what would the benefit be ?
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I'm going to be starting on a Phenix TJX-63MH slow pitch rod for a customer. Nice blank. I've never made one before, but it's pretty straight forward. I have all the components. Here's the dilemma: Phenix spiral wraps their slow pitch rods. I'm in complete agreement with the concept. I have a spiral wrapped Phenix 700X3H which is absolutely amazing to fish. I told the customer that I highly recom
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Been out of the game for about 10 years. Is the new guide concept still a good way to set up a spinning rod? I'm building a 2pc 10' spinner (SU1207F-2-MHX) for surf casting and using a van staal vr150 with 50lb braided line (12lb diameter in mono) with no connecting knots. I'm trying to build it as light as possible while being able to cast as far as possible. Also any suggestions on guides th
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I have an X-Ray MB-736 blank I would like to setup with a set of micro guides. Possibly looking at the Titan Artus micros, but also open to suggestions. What combination of sizing and spacing is everyone using for micros?
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I’ve seen several people talk of placing guides on straightest axis of blank vs finding the spine. What are the pros and cons of each and why one way or another? Thanks
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I have some inexpensive 9’6” (10-30 lb) 2 piece factory rods setup for trolling salmon, and am thinking to modify the current guide configuration to a spiral wrap. This would involve moving 1 existing guide and adding 1 more guide, and both would be the transition guides in the spiral (successive 60 degree offsets). My question involves having the spiral transition guides span the ferrule.
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In the now infamous thread "Has NFC gone downhill?", there was some discussion by some pretty experienced people regarding the preferred placement of guides on a blank. As is often the case, there was also some disagreement among the participants in the discussion related to this. Because it has been bugging me, I decided to address it. First off, I agree with Ed Rose who in the di
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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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What are your GO TO rods for your FAVORITE kinds of fishing? I'm curious what some of the best rod builders and fishermen on this forum reach for first. New to rod building and don't have lots of rods yet? Chime in with what you do have and why you like it. Have a couple favorites for the same category? Freshwater and/or Saltwater? Fly, Spin, Cast? Go for it! Also, I thought it might be h
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As the title suggests, how do you align the guides on your rod builds? There must be pros and cons to either / both methods to be considered while developing a personal preference. Personally, I position the guides of my builds in the straightest, line-of-sight alignment because when sighting down the rod (as virtually everyone does, including customers), the guides are in perfect alignment with
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What is the feeling about using color preserver on wraps? I had heard it weakened them and would not let the epoxy penetrate.
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I'm going to build a bait finesse rod for stream trout just because curiosity is killing me. I plan to use an NFC 601 (IM) or an NFC 602 (Delta) paired with a KastKing BFS Zepher reel and PowerPro 3 LBS braid. Would like to be able to throw 1/32 oz jigs. I have a Fuji rv6 I can use for a stripper and minima 5's or 4's for running guides. I am thinking about a simple spiral. Can I use single foo
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I am building a catfish rod and need to what size seat, size guides and number of guides to use. This will be a casting rod. I’m not sure what size guides to use. I know the customer uses Abu Ambassador 6500 and 7000 reels. Blank NFC 8’0” s-glass composite Medium Heavy , moderate/fast action Thanks in advance for the info.
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Hi everyone, I'm building a bass/pike/musky casting swimbait rod (NFC SWB-807 1/2-5oz) and planning on using 65lb braid. Built number of rods, but first spiral. I've read the Simple Spiral article in the Rodmaker SE Guide edition, and searched quite a bit on this forum. Some things/info seem to have changed over time so wondering if the following assumptions are correct: 1) Article refer
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OK, here’s a good one; has anyone devised a method of eliminating, or at least reducing, the inherent reel cranking torque imposed on a casting rod? I’m referring to the likes of a heavy saltwater tuna rod, not a lighter freshwater bass rod. Possibly even for bringing-up a pound of lead and a couple of rockfish 300ft. Sure, shorter guides or, better yet, spiral wrapped guides significantly reduce
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Is there someone I could call and discuss my setup for my spiral wrap steelhead rod? It’s 11 1/2’ long, medium power. I have the first guide at ~20” from the bait casting reel, set at 0, next guide is about 4.5” at ~ 60*, next guide another 4.5 inches up at ~120* and the last guide at 180*, 14” up from the first guide. I placed the remaining guides where they need to be. Took it out to cast an
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I want to make my first cork handles. I have read there are basically 2 techniques commonly used to make a handle . 1) glue the rings on the rod and turn the handle on the blank or 2) glue up the rings on a mandrel and file out the center using a tapered reamer . The idea of turning the cork glued up to the blank does not appeal to me ,to many chances for a snaffoo on my part . Then theres gluing
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I'm hoping to collect some advise...I'm working on an offshore rod. The tip section of the blank tapers to about a size 7 at the tip. The smallest tube tip-top available in the guide model we selected is a size 10. In the past, I've often used a thread wrap to fill the void between a blank and loose tip-top but I've never filled a void this large. I'm thinking I may need 3 or 4 layers of thre
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I have read a few threads on reamers. Very few on cementing loose grit on old blank. I tried one this week with not very good results. I used 5 min epoxy and silicon carbide grit. The heat ended up destroying it. The epoxy was only dried for 2 days. And thinking about it, silicon carbide might have been a bad choice. So I am thinking of aluminum oxide for grit. But, I need a cement tha
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I have done some research and would like to confirm what I plan to do since this will be the first spiral wrapped rod for me. I have an 11 1/2’ steelhead rod that I plan to run the first guide at 0, then 60, 120 and finally at 180 degrees. Is it standard practice to run the two middle guides the same size? I see it done both ways but want to make the best setup possible. Thanks, Dave
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What builds have all of you done that you consider most difficult to achieve in regards to functionality related to difficult fishing parameters? Most of my builds over about thirty years have been aimed at fulfilling very specific fishing functions better than anything available from factory offerings. I’ve honestly hit and missed at doing this. I’ve built everything from halibut and salmon shar
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Hi all ... I've built a couple lighter casting rods, worming and drop shot. Now I'm going to build a 7'6" heavy Liberty blank for throwing 1/2 to 1 oz weight Carolina rig, 18lbs main line and my question is how the guide train should look . I think id like to start with a size 10 ( if that seems correct) and finish with # 5 runners and tip top. With this being a heaver outfit how many d
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I'm waiting on the delivery of a PB 7'10 XXH. And I was wondering what guides I should use. I'll be using a Lexa 400 or an Accurate Tern 300 and 40lb braid throwing 2oz flairhawks and won't need to cast a knot through the guides. I fish heavy drag and horse fish away from the bridge/fenders. I was thinking of using the Fuji KW in SiC. But I'm not sure how many guides or what size. I'm set on goin
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I'm 99% spinning so that's basically all I've ever built. So I apologize in advance if this question is too basic for those of you baitcasting rod pros. Been intending to build a BFS (bait finesse system) rod at about 5 1/2 feet long, and UL in power using a spiral (acid) wrap. I'm curious about the distance of the butt (1st) guide to the reel. Since the line is already going through a
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While my “removable guide, telescopic rod” (RG Tele) may not be a milestone in rod building history or a trend-setting design, it accomplished its goal of producing a multi-piece pack rod which protected the fragile tip sections within the butt section while still affording PROPER guide placement as per 2-line static load testing for optimum performance; protection AND performance in one rod. Alt
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Hello everyone i got a question for building a 80-150# class rod blanks with roller guides and swivel tip. 1. What type of rod blank do you prefer to start a rod build with E Glass, S Glass, Composite, or Graphite? IGFA class? this will be paired with 80-130 tiagra or penn international or any other brand in this range spooled with Mono. Thanks,
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