Are the guides on fishing rod placed according to personal preference or according to some model?
Posted on Jul 16, 2009 under Fishing Guides | 4 CommentsThe placement of guides – are they placed wherever u wish or are they al placed in the same way according to some mathematical model?
They depend on the type of reel, rod blank and the rods action, to find out where they need to go you need to find the rods spine, once you have done that you can estimate which side of the blank they need to go on, then you can find how many guides you need depending on the rods length, you know you’ve got the right amount of guides when there are no sharp angles in the line when threaded through the guides and the tip bent, a smooth curve should be seen. There’s also different types of guides, especially on saltwater rods, using s spinning reel the first few eyes will often have a larger diameter than those for a bait caster. Lately it seems to be the trend to use a universal size guide that is in between the two that allows both to be used, also if your using a baitcaster the guides have to be on the other side of the blank to what they would be on a spinning reels rod. Then of course there’s the different kinds of guides, but that’s another LONG story.
July 16th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
They are placed according to a mathematical model that takes into account the stress / test curve of the rod blank. Thats why they are not equidistant.
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July 16th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
I’m not aware of a "mathematical" model, but rather an "empirical" one. The guides are placed closer where the rod blank bends more (near the tip), and farther apart where it bends less. So rods which do most of their bending near the tip ("fast" action) will have guides closely spaced up there, and considerably farther apart down towards the handle. Rods which bend throughout their lengths ("slow" action, like fly rods) will have their guides spaced more evenly. In general, the distance between guides on any rod will increase as you get closer to the handle.
Besides this, rods cast better when the first (largest) guide is a ways from the reel. This varies with the size and type of reel and the length of the rod, but it can be from 1.5 to 3 feet or so.
The number of guides depends on the stiffness of the rod, the length of the rod, and the type of reel it’s designed for. Spinning rods, designed for use with the reel (and the line) under the rod, will have fewer guides than conventional rods, where the reel and line are on top of the rod.
If you’re building a rod and want to know where to place the guides, the best option is to measure the guide placement (and sizes) on a professionally built rod which uses the same blank (very important, as every model of rod blank bends differently), then try taping the guides in position on your blank, mount a reel on it, and check how they work when the rod bends.
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Experience — I’ve built dozens of fishing rods.
July 16th, 2009 at 7:58 pm
They depend on the type of reel, rod blank and the rods action, to find out where they need to go you need to find the rods spine, once you have done that you can estimate which side of the blank they need to go on, then you can find how many guides you need depending on the rods length, you know you’ve got the right amount of guides when there are no sharp angles in the line when threaded through the guides and the tip bent, a smooth curve should be seen. There’s also different types of guides, especially on saltwater rods, using s spinning reel the first few eyes will often have a larger diameter than those for a bait caster. Lately it seems to be the trend to use a universal size guide that is in between the two that allows both to be used, also if your using a baitcaster the guides have to be on the other side of the blank to what they would be on a spinning reels rod. Then of course there’s the different kinds of guides, but that’s another LONG story.
References :
Building rods most of my life.
July 16th, 2009 at 8:05 pm
They are placed according to the rods curve when fully loaded so as to maximise the rod’s backbone(rod’s strength) to relieve the stresses acting on the angler when fighting a fish.
The rod builder would have to balance and smooth out the loading curve as well as he could and decide of the number of guides he want to use.
The number of guides used can be limited by costs, desired weight of the rod, rod application(Acid wrap/overhead/spinning, luring rods, jigging rods, trolling rods…etc) and the rod builder would usually look for the most suitable solution.
There are current many brands and types of guides out there made with different materials. Having adequate knowledge of the different type of guides will help the builder put together a rod to best suit the application intended.
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