I was actually planning to keep the same number of guides, but reduce the number of traditional bent wire snake guides and increase the number of guides with an SIC insert. Sorry for the poor explanation above.

Somewhat of an aside: I personally think of everything with an insert should be called a stripping guide for the purpose of clarity.

The concept of increasing guides is an interesting one... I'll track down that thread.

The build will be on a 10wt TICRx Blank and I'm planning to match a line after the build but it will probably be in the 10 or 11 wt range.

The factory suggestion for this rod is two stripping guides and 8 snake guides. I was planning on keeping the four bent wire on the tip section and replacing the other four with single footed snake guides with an SIC insert. I was also considering replacing the bent wire tip with an SIC insert tip top, and maybe adding an additional insert guide on the tip section. My concerns are on wt of the guides and the overall impact on the load. The tip section will be dependent on how stiff the rod is. Anyone had any issues with the added wt or bulk?