Pair of euro rods

[Steeldrifter 0]

Latest pair of rods off the bench for a customer. Pair of 10' 3wt 4pc, one in burgundy with garnet wraps and the other matte black with black wraps. Both with rosewood seats, burl grips, no butts and SF guides.

 

[FIN-ITE 34 0]

What are the specific differences between the two blanks besides the color?

[niveker 0]

Very nice set, Steve.  The burgundy rod suddenly reminded me of the my very first brand, spanking new bike I bought through the old Sears Roebuck catalogue with my paper route money -LOL.  Same color scheme as I recall.  

Anyhow, do you think there is any advantage/disadvantage of the SF guides vs snake guides, or is it just a matter of personal taste?  Seems all my fly rods have snake guides.  

[Steeldrifter 0]

5 hours ago, FIN-ITE 34 said:

What are the specific differences between the two blanks besides the color?

No differences between these two. They are both the Xi series that I bring in for euro rods so only thing is the color.

 

3 hours ago, niveker said:

do you think there is any advantage/disadvantage of the SF guides vs snake guides, or is it just a matter of personal taste?  Seems all my fly rods have snake guides.  

Single foot guides do have a number of "slight" advantages over double foot guides. But the advantages are very small so it is almost not something that is in fact more than personal choice. The advantages are that they are lighter weight. Not necessarily  the guide itself, but the fact that it only takes half the wraps and finish as a double foot guide. On a normal 7-9' rod that might not make a big difference, but when you are going out to 10' range saving even a tiny bit of weight that is "swing weight" does help some. Also IMO they do allow for full uninhibited flex of the blank. If you think about it with a normal double foot guide rod you have 9 to 10 1.5" long spots on the rod where there is a piece of metal somewhat rigidly attached to the blank as the blank itself bends. With a single foot guide you don't have that happening. Again, this is a very very small thing, but when you add up a few of the small things I think it's worth it.

The only "con" per say is that single foots are not quite as durable as double foots. With single foot guides you have to be careful sliding rod sections into tubes/cases or when moving them around in a boat. Because with the guide standing straight up you can pretty easily bend one out of shape. It can be bent back to shape but if you do that a couple times on a trip you risk breaking one and needing it replaced.

[skeet3t 0]

Recoil guides wil retain their shape when bumped. Steve, ever use them?

Edit- single foot guides are a pain to wrap, especially when you get to the ones toward the tip. Orthodontic rubber bands will hild them until wrap will hold the guide. AMHIK.

[Steeldrifter 0]

Yeah I have used Recoils before and not a fan of them. Performance is good, but one problem with them is they "sing". Because of the material they are made of as the line goes through them it gives off a pretty bad sound  due to the reverberation which many people including myself are not a fan of. I built myself a rod with them years ago and sold it after using it twice due to that reason. It just drove me nuts listening to the odd sound every time I shot line through the guides.

I find SF guide wrapping to be pretty easy. I've seen tons of guys come up with all sorts of ways to attempt it from dental rubber bands to tiny o-rings and other DIY ideas, and the way I do it is as simple as it gets. A small dot of superglue. The dot of glue holds the guide on so you can wrap it, yet once wrapped is easy to tweak to adjust the position of the guide, and has no ill effects to the wrap/finish once the rod is done. If you haven't tried it give it a go and you'll make things much easier on yourself and wonder why you hadn't tried it before

[skeet3t 0]

I use Vise Grips.🤣  OK, I got a supply of orthodontic rubber bands to hold the SF guides in place. A light touch with an X-acto knife and Ping! you can finish wrapping.

[niveker 0]

19 hours ago, Steeldrifter said:

Single foot guides do have a number of "slight" advantages over double foot guides

Thanks Steve - good points I never would have thought of.  For my worsening eyes, I think the snake guides make it easier to string up my rod. 

[skeet3t 0]

Hot glue is used but I find it builds up if you aren't careful.