guide wraps

I thought of this question while reading Jack's post. I start my guide wraps and then slide them to the starting point before I tighten the first 2-3 wraps. I use a cut piece of cardstock to measure. How far from the guide foot do y'all start your guide wraps? On my 8wt I did 1/8" beyond the foot, on my 4wt, less.

Greg

Greg F;
Good question! I tend to go shorter with the lighter rods.
I'll hang around here to see what others have to say.

I try to do 5 turn before the quide foot. I don't need to measure that. Really it is just enough to get a good wrap started before climbing onto the guide foot. Some folks can do it in 2-3 but not me. Allyn

I think Arkriver is right on. I tried 3 turns on my last rod, a 2wt, but if the thread isn't tight enough to the blank it makes packing impossible as the thread starts up the guide foot. The threads end up clumping right at the tip of the foot. It looks fine now, but it took some extra work getting a smooth finish.

I can't imagin using a few extra turns would have any notisable effect on performance.

It sounds like you try to have as few wraps as possible before the guide foot. On the 8wt I did 1/8 inch and after I finished it it looked a bit overkill but okay considering the scale of the rod.. I'm getting set to wrap a 3wt. It will look alot better with minimal wraps. Thanks for the suggestions.

Greg

I wrap mine with quite a bit of distance between the beginning of the wrap and where it begins to climb the foot. I have no reason to do it this way, other than it "looks right" to my eye. I do about a half inch from the beginning of the wrap to the end point where the foot meets the ring on smaller guides, and maybe 3/4 of an inch on larger. I know its probably not great for performance, but I like the look, and it doesn't seem to interfere with my fishin'.
Swamp

Well that's another way to look at it that I hadn't considered. I'll have to have a look with the total wrap length in mind.

I start with a 1/16" trip wrap 1/8" from the foot then transistion to the guide wrap. Bob.

all the thread before the guide does nothing to the integrity of the wrap. It just adds weight. I have my wraps down to 2 turns plus a single trim wrap before climbing up the foot.

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The thrill is not in the kill. It's in the deception.

Now that's what I'm talking about! Nice!