rod question

[cmorse]

I have been building rods for many years but never one for center pinning. I figured it was about time to take the plunge and build one! I decided on a 3 piece 13'6" Raven IM9. I have done some research on guides and have found many different opinions. Is there any real advantage to the high framed guides or would I be just as well off with standard height single foots? I plan on starting with a #20 and finishing with #7's or 8's depending on how they lay on the tip.

Any help or advice would be appreciated!

[staffman]

I don't have any answers for you, however if you asked your question in the rod builders discussion section near the bottom of the home page I'm sure they can answer all of your questions,

[Equinox]

Take into consideration that smaller guides will freeze up faster.

[tpcollins]

I built a 13' float rod on a Talon blank awhile back and used all Recoil spinning guides. I think I started with a 20 or 25mm for the butt guide, followed with the Fuji/New Guide Concept down to about a 7mm choke guide and ran 7s to the tip. I even put a 7mm Recoil for the tip top to keep the line as straight as possible at the top. The line peels through the guides pretty good - now if I could only learn to cast a pin . . .

[tpcollins]

I was wrong, I thought I used 7's but actually I used 8's. I wouldn't normally use length +1 for a spinning type rod but since this was my first float rod, I was more concerned with the line peeling off easy without any sags between the guides. My setup used all Recoil single foot spinning guides and are set up as: 20-16-12-10-10-10-8-8-8-8-8-8-8-8 plus a sf 8 as a tiptop. I used a Fuji IPSM seat with the matching contoured grip and reversed it so it became the foregrip. This made the reelseat uplocking. Then I added a 9" rear grip for a total 20" handle. I can adjust my hand placement and get it to balance easily for those long drifts. Good luck.