Until I met my friend, Wrangler, I built three rods on a cardboard box with two V's cut on either side. Worked quite well. I'd still use it if it weren't for the convenience of the contrapion we now share. Anyway, please relax. The butt portion of a rod may be too stiff to worry about a spline. The upper sections are easier to spline and mark. I would differ a bit, though, with Plain Old Jim. I am not a fan of color preserver. I tried it on a rod and simply hated the effect. If you have a broken rod or something you don't need any longer, wrap two side-by-side thread bases, then use a color preserver on one and the epoxy on the other. Make you choice from that. Also, if you epoxy the guide before you're finished with the entire rod you may not be able to realign the guides between the reel seat and tiptop. No matter how meticulous I am, I almost always need to move the guides to put them in close alignment. Make sure you don't wrap your guides so tight you can't move them slightly. JGW