Need Advice on finishing an old incompleted rod.

[D.W.]

I recently was given a rod that has never been completed. This thing has been in a closet for many many years, as obvious by the other items i gained with it, like Berkley trilene insta change mono spools, and the box for the full set of guides was 6.99 .

Any input would be very helpful as this is my first attempt at this kind of thing. The rod was a gift from my future father in law as he knows I like to use sturdy light gear when bass fishing and he lost interest in DYI stuff years ago.

Heres what I have an 8' 5" lightweight blank.It is 2 piece. I'm assuming its light action as it is extremely flexible and thin. The cork handles, reel seat and all but the bottom guide has been wrapped. It's been set up to handle spinning gear. I was told that originally it was a 9 ft light flyrod blank, but it doesnt seem like any fly rod I've ever seen. Anyway it's a nice piece.

The guides are Aetna Foulproof 2 footed salt for 8' to 9' rods. I need to know where, measurement wise on the bottom half to mount and wrap the final guide. Someone also has told me the bottom guide needs to be flipped opposite of the rest of the guides on how its mounted??

[D.W.]

Went to another board on the net and someone guided me to this link for spacing. http://www.rodworks.on.ca/space.html

[Mattman]

Not at all familiar with those guides.

You do not need to reverse the guide. You can put it on any way you'd like.

I also would never use double footed guides on a spinning rod. Real overkill unless you're pulling some huge fish out of the salt. Those guides are approximately 1/3 heavier than single foots, plus you've doubled up on your thread and finish weight. Not to mention damping the blank in twice as many areas.

I'm not a fan of spacing charts. They're just a guideline. My first guide, and the rest of them, are placed according to geometry. With the reel mounted in the reel seat without its spool on, the shaft of reel points where the line is going to want to go. The "tunnel" my guide rings create are on that line the reel shaft makes. I haven't looked at a spacing chart in years.