So, here's the deal. I decided I wanted a bamboo rod, and I figured for the amount that most new/used rods go for, I'll be able to build my own, and I'll be a lot more satisfied fishing with a rod that I made (kind of the same mentality of tying my own flies). I've gotten my planing form back from the machine shop, I've split my bamboo and decided on a taper (Dickerson 8013), now I've just got a couple questions that I need answered. First, is there an easy way to determine the spacing for the guides (mathematically or otherwise). Second, I've been toying with the notion of darkly flaming the butt section, and leaving the tip section a lighter tone-anyone ever tried this? How did it affect the rods performance/action? And also, is there a trick to getting the initial 60degree bevel on the strips without using a roughing form (as I said, I've got my planing forms with the 60degree groove already, but not a set of roughing forms), or should I just break down and buy a roughing form with the rest of my components? Thanks in advance for all your inevitably good advice.

Joe Martin
Salem, OR