Here is a question from Volume 6, Issue #2 of RodMaker
Magazine:
I keep falling back on the old fashioned method of
placing my guides. I think it's foolproof and
don't mind the extra time needed to set it up.
But I have never found an answer on just how
much flex you should put in a rod when performing
a static guide placement test. Any ideas or
suggestions? Mike...Victoria, TX
You're right - static guide placement is as good
as it gets, if you don't mind the time required
to do it. I suppose that we now have so many
newer and fancier methods of guide placement
that static guide placement has been relegated
to the bottom shelf and doesn't get the proper
treatment anymore. I'll try to give you a good
procedure here.
First off, it's very true that as you apply more
and more load to any blank, the amount and area
that flexes changes. Thus, just putting one load
or bend in the blank won't allow you to locate the
optimum placement for the guides under any and all
expected loads the rod will be exposed to. So it's
best done in stages.
Glue on your tip-top and make sure it is secure.
Tie a line to the tip and fasten that to an abject,
or to a container that allows you to apply any amount
of load needed. Water or coins are good for adding
more load to the blank.
You should already have some idea where the butt or
stripping guide is going to be located, as well as
the first guide behind the tip (4 inches or so for
most lighter rods and 5 or maybe 6 for heavier rods
or surf types). Beginning with the second guide back
from the tip, place the rest of your guides at 5 inch
intervals. All of them. If the last one is closer
than 5 inches to the butt guide, leave it off.
Now place a reel on the rod and run the line through
all the guides and tip-top. Tie or fasten it to an
object that is only heavy enough to keep some tension
on the line. Now use the line you previously tied to
the tip-top to apply a load and put the blank into a
bend. Start by loading it enough to create good flex
in the upper 1/4 or so of the blank, but no more than
that. Now begin work on those first few guides. The
first one behind the tip is set, so skip that one and
look at the next. Notice how the line coming off the
reel passes through the guides. You want that line to
closely mimic the flex of the blank. So at that second
guide, adjust it as necessary to achieve this. You may
have to move it up a tad, you may be able to move it back
a tad. Get it to where it suits you and then move to the
3rd guide and do the same. Continue on with each guide
until you find that you are moving out of the area of
flex you currently have on the blank.
Now apply more load and flex the blank into the upper ½
of its length. Begin working on those guides. By now,
you're likely to find that you've moved guides
progressively more and more towards the blank's butt
end. You may even find a point where you need to move
a guide to a position that will put it right next to or
on top of another guide. No problem. If that happens,
remove that next guide and continue working. As you run
out of flex in that area, stop.
Now apply more load and try to get the blank to bend
at least a bit into the butt area - the lower half of
the rod. Pick up where you left off and adjust the
guides in that area of flex accordingly. At this
point, you should have some pretty nice guide spacing
in place.
Now for the obvious questions. Why use a separate line
to load the rod instead of the line coming from the reel?
Well, if you load the line coming from the reel, you don't
get a true picture of how your blank wants and needs to
flex. That's right - the line pulling between the guides
can force the blank into a bend it wouldn't otherwise
take. So we load from the tip and allow the blank to
flex in the manner it was designed to. That's the bend
we're trying to mimic with our line.
Why put guides at every 5 inches? Well, you have to
put them somewhere and in some quantity before you can
start. With a guide at every 5 inches, chances are
really good that you'll actually have too many rather
than too few guides on there. They'll also be too close
in most cases, so your static placement will consist
mostly of moving each guide back a hair and possibly
having to remove a few guides in the process. This
just makes things a bit more simple since the
possibility of not having enough guides or having
some guides too far apart to start with, have already
been taken care of.
Hopefully this will simplify your static guide placement
and make it about as good as it can get. ~ Tom Kirkman
Publishers note:
If you have any tips or techniques, send them
along! Help out your fellow rodmakers!
~ Publisher, FAOL
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