How many guides should I use?Updated 3 years ago

You should always use the fewest and smallest guides that will still perform the required task. Guides which are too large only add weight and rob the rod of efficiency and performance. Using too many guides does the same thing.

You want your guides to be just large enough to pass the required line and any connecting knots or loops. Any larger than that is not necessary. You also want to use enough guides to provide adequate stress distribution for the blank. A general rule of thumb for most rods is to use one guide per foot of rod length plus a tip-top. Obviously this will vary depending upon the type of rod and whether you are building a casting, spinning, surf, troll or fly rod.

Guide spacing or placement needs to be optimized for each specific blank. This is why any guide placement or spacing charts should only be used as a starting point and not as exact spacing for your particular blank. You will want to tape on a set of guides and load the rod in order to make sure that the line doesn¹t touch the rod when it is heavily loaded. Nor do you want the line creating sharp angles or flat spots between each guide. If such is the case, you need to adjust the number of guides you are using and/or adjust the spacing of the guides already in use.