Bob Sirois 
ezOP
(3/23/01 7:11 am)
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Step#7, Set-up the guides.
First using a stick of ferrule cement, temporarily put the tip-top in position. Using the surgical tubing cut into small narrow bands, place the guides on the rod.  Now I've always placed my guides by what looks right to me, based on some 30 years of casting countless spinning, casting and fly rods. The guide spacing formulas at the rod rack are pretty close when it comes to getting the guides set up right guidespace.html
If you have open water, I suggest taking some test casts, because a this is the time to get a feel for how the guide number and placement will affect the rod's performance. If not a practice plug in the back yard will work.
On conventional rods, you now need to perform a static deflection test, to insure the guides aren't set too far apart. Put the butt of the rod in a small length of sturdy pvc tubing and clamp that in a vice, or if you have a boat and it's not buried in snow, a rod holder works great. With a reel mounted, run the line through the guides and tie on a heavy snap swivel. I clip this to a ring on the base of one of my immovable storage shelfs and then load up the rod well to put a good bend in it. Check the line along it's length, to make sure it doesn't touch the rod blank anywhere. If it does you need to re-position the guides until the line isn't in contact with the blank.
Once you have the guides in the correct placement, then it's important to measure and note this, so you don't have to do it again. Lay the rod down on your bench and put the end of the tape measure at the tip top and note the measurement to each guide ring from the tip top. I'm lazy and find that a small narrow band of masking tape right in front of the guide foot as shown in the first picture above. If your using underwraps you will have to remove the tape as you approach it with the underwrap, but it's quicker than having to lay the rod down and measure for each guide.
Now that you've taken a few casts, confirm you are happy with the handle diameter and no further sanding is going to be necessary. If so, than mix up a small batch of 2 part epoxy glue and glue on the butt cap. Clean off any excess epoxy with acetone and run a couple extra large rubber bands from the foregrip down to the butt cap to hold it in place overnight. Notice that I've also slide my winding check down close to it's position in front of the foregrip, because you can't do it later after the first guide is wrapped on.
Let that set overnight and then we can start on the guide wrapping.
Tight Lines
Edited by: Bob Sirois at: 3/23/01 7:27:21 am
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