single foot or snake ?

[Ryan Pultz]

Ok I won the new blank for my fly rod at Ifishstock :yay:
Now I am starting to look at what I need to buy to build this thing it will be my second rod so I have all the knowledge to do it and the friends to ask all my questions but. Before I go planning the rod out I had one question about guilds on the rod. Should I use single foot or snake guilds? I like the look and the idea of single foot guilds. Is there any down side to them? All my other rods have snake guilds and I like them buy I was thinking of doing something different on this one. Any ideas will be very helpful. Thanks Ryan

[Pete]

Like most things, there are plusses and minuses with each. Snake guides are light and effective, but create a slight stiff spot in the rod. Single foot guides are light and create less of a stiff spot, but can be pulled out of their wraps much more easily because they are only secured in one direction.

My choice is stainless steel snake guides. I file the feet down so they taper to the end. That way they fit flush under the wraps. If you do this with plated or non-stainless guides you will end up with rust.

Have fun! Rod building is very satisfying. When I started building rods, I spent a lot of time practicing diamond wraps. I used to practice on a pencil while sitting in front of the TV. A couple years ago, there were some great photos of custom wraps that Bait o' Eggs posted. I really liked one that looked like little tunas. The possibilities are endless.

[Ryan Pultz]

Thanks Pete. I do ont know if I will ever get the dimond wrap thing down good enought to put on a rod but you never know rp

[East Fork]

Single foot guides also bend easier.

[Mark Vickers]

There is a bigger selection of single foot guides, some with pretty fancy metal and ceramic coatings (and hefty prices to go along with them).

Snakes are more traditional for all but the stripping guide, but you'll probably get better performance with the single foot guides.

Head up I-5 to Angler's Workshop. Their catalog alone will leave your head spinning for days...

[lilnorthfork]

Don't know anything about building rods but saw some very cool guides on rods built by Christian Brink, a Portland-based rod builder. Titanium... very springy so not likely to bend. lnf

[Snapset]

Like Pete said, if you put single foot guides on a fly rod, you will be rewrapping them on a regular basis. This is especially tru for a fly rod, which flexes all the way down to the handle. I use Single foot guides on all my steelhead rods, and I replace them fairly regularly, also. I don't feel that a thin wire snake guide creates a noticable dead spot. I would go with the stainless snakes. There is probably no noticable weight difference.

[Ryan Pultz]

Yeah I think I will go with Stainless snake guilds. I do love some of the styles of single foot guilds out there but I want a rod I can depend on for years to come and retying a guild on the rod every year or two is not something I want. Thanks Ryan

[Snakebite]

I built a rod with snakes except for the tip and last guide I used a single foot as it works better for stripping line...in my opinion. Have Fun! :cheers:

[Stinkbait]

Ryan, go rodbuilding.org (http://www.rodbuilding.org) and do a search of your question. It has often been discussed and questioned. Pete mentions singles pulling out of their wraps, look at the Forhan locking wrap in the Library section. It seems to me that the consensus is that singles provide a distance edge because of less line slap against the blank.

You didn't mention what type of rod that you won. On rodbuilder.org you have to consider what type of rod they're talking about. Easterners think in terms of 3 or 4 wt. trout rods, Westerns think about 7 or 8 wt. steelhead rods, while those in SoCal and Florida 12wt for out in the ocean.

Save the diamond wraps for your boat rods, you want a fly rod to be as light as possible.

Rodbuilders.org is a great site for the beginner or expert rod builder. If you're a new rodbuilder beware, rodbuilding can be addictive.

Mike

[Ryan Pultz]

Thank you everyone for the info rp