6 ft. flyrod guide size & spacing

[JeffS]

I am planning to build a 6 ft. 4 weight fly rod.
My question relates to guide spacing and size, I intend upon using single foot guides. The guide spacing chart from Stockard and St. Croix for a 6 ft. fly rod indicates a spacing of:
4in., 8.5in., 13.5in., 19in., 25in., 32in., 40in, 50in. using the following sizes 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, & 10 stripping.
I was under the impression that the general rule of thumb was 1 guide per foot of rod which if true would make this excessive.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Betty Hiner]

I may be way out of line here, but isn't the one foot "rule" used with spinning rods? The spacing and sizes look spot on to me.

[Bass_Bug]

I thought the rule of thumb was 1 per foot plus 1 as a starting point. Never heard that was just for spinning rods though.

Jeff you're bound to get a mix of theories, but they will all boil down to doing it 4 different ways:

1- use the chart specified by the mfg. (always a safe starting point)
2- do a static test to determine number of guides and their placements.
3- use a formula to figure out a custom spacing.
4- do whatever the h3ll YOU think looks and works right for you.

[kbproctor]

I like choice 4.

[mr. blur]

my understanding is that the rule is 1 guide per foot plus one and a stripper.

so a six foot rod would have 7 guides and a stripper. I recently built a sweet little six foot one wt bamboo rod and ended up using 8 guides and a stripper (just the way the spacing I used turned out).

[JeffS]

Based on your responses I am going to go with 7 guides and 1 stripper - unless that doesn't look good or work well (option #4).

Thanks again,
Jeff

[PanFisher]

I was taught one guide per foot for spinning and one per foot plus one for fly rods. On the fly rods this included the stripper. As a final perspective though Bass Bugs #4 is right on.

I use a formula given me years ago that I wrote a Visual Basic program to calculate the spacing for me. It calculates the proper distance to place the stripping guide and allows me to adjust distances to accommodate the ferrules. Once the guides are taped on based on this formula I still do the stress test and adjust accordingly to the bend/taper of the blank.

That's my system, everyone has their own. I find what is important is that you are happy with it once it is on the rod.