[huck]

I have a heavy Shimano spinning rod that I got at Sports Authority for $20 a while ago. I wanted to cut off the guides and make it a casting rod to pair up with a Jigmaster that I've added magnets to for braking. I realized that since it's a 2 piece rod, maybe I could just make it a spiral wrap and only have to cut and re-wrap one guide?

So my question is, with spiral wraps, is the guide placement usually 1 @ 0 degrees, 1 @ 90 degrees, and the rest @ 180 degrees? Or should I put one @ 45 and one @ 135 on either side of the 90?? And will this be ok for a casting rod?

I hope this makes sense. And thanks for any help with this.

[Mattman]

Several different ways to spiral wrap a rod.

My biggest issue with your theory here is that most of the guides you'd be leaving on the rod are going to be high frame guides making the transition for the line from the top of the blank to the bottom of the blank quite a long way.

If you wanted to use the same guide locations, I'd put a double foot on top of the blank 19" from the reel face at about 20°. The next guide would be a low frame single foot at 170°. From that guide out to the tip I'd use low frame single foot guides. Between the first two guides (closest to the reel) at 90° I'd put a small bumper guide. A small single foot guide. This is just there to keep the line from rubbing the blank.

I personally prefer to spiral my rods with 40°, 80°, 130°, 170° guides when doing new builds.

[thedude]

i used the 0, 90, 180 method (simple spiral?) and have been very pleased with it. I haven't noticed any issues with casting or line piling up on one side of the reel.

I used fuji alconite concept guides:
Guide 1: BLNAG 12j 0*
Guide 2: BLNAG 7j 90* bumper
Guide 3: BLNAG 10j 180*
BLNAG 8J
BLNAG 7J
BLAG 7J
BLAG 6J
.....
Tip

i just used standard spacing and placed the bumper guide halfway between the 1st and 2nd guides (assuming traditional guide placement).

Mattman -
do you use a guide at 0*? Also what size rings are you using as you get around the blank? I like the idea of using smaller single-foot guides as much as possible, whereas i'm using about half double foot, half single

[bemidjibasser]

The last rod I built for myself I used 0 double foot guides. The largest guide I used was a size 8 ring fly guide, and the rest were size 6 ring fly guides. (all fuji alconites) The blank is a 6'6" shikari II mh. I have the first guide at 0* a bumper at 90ish* and the rest at 180*... it casts as well or better than any of the other spirals that I have made which use a slower transition.

To answer Huck's question, I would remove all of the guides because, like Mattman said, they would be high frame "spinning" guides" which keep the line farther from the blank. I would go with the smallest guides that you feel comforatable with using, and go with the simple spiral like the dude recommended. In my opinion, this would give you the best results. Are you planning on applying a casting/ trigger seat or leaving the original seat on it?

[huck]

Thanks guys!

I was just going to leave the reel seat on there, and add a handle extension at the base of the rod. I didn't want to get too crazy with it since it is a cheap-o rod. I just want something I can catfish with out here in the desert, or use to soak bait for Leopard sharks in the surf. It's a "beater" rod.

I think I have an extra guide or two laying around... if I do I'll add them as bumpers, and I'll go with the 0-90-180 transition plus the bumpers in between.

Eventually maybe I'll make a spiral wrap and put more time into it, but I just want this one to be functional so I can use my jigmaster that I modded with magnets for casting.

Thanks for the tips!!