Running guide sizing

[JasonGotaProblem]

Given all that I've been learning lately, I've been looking more closely at my existing factory rods. On my shimano teramar I noticed that there's 2 smaller running guides next to each other in between larger guides. Such as to say the guide closest to the tip is larger than the 2nd and 3rd closest to the tip. Is there any chance this is intentional or was this rod repaired poorly? I bought it used for a really great price so that wouldn't be surprising. Either way I'm Gonna be redoing all of them, but I'm legit curious if this was intentional.

[philaroman]

interesting...
seen pre-fab spin rods w/ tip ring noticeably bigger & lower than running guides
hate that    is there a reason for it?
wonder if previous owner or Shimano tried a more gradual transition
my solution is smaller tip, but I'm less concerned w/ distance

[oc1]

I'm legit curious if this was intentional.

If it was intentional then Shimano would be bragging about their new technology.  If it looks weird then it probably is.

[oldmanjoe]

                     I bought it used for a really great price so that wouldn't be surprising.
     I would venture to say , most likely used what was on hand .  Do they even look like the same family of guides ?

[Jeri]

Sounds like an inappropriate repair.

The point of having a series of small running guides at the very top of a rod, is that by that time the line has lost all or nearly all of its non-linear movement, and is running dead straight, to perfectly exit the rod tip.

[steelfish]

Such as to say the guide closest to the tip is larger than the 2nd and 3rd closest to the tip. Is there any chance this is intentional or was this rod repaired poorly?

yep, repaired poorly, check if the size of the tip top match with the bigger guide (the one after the smaller ones) or the smaller ones?

the rule of the thumb is the use the tip top size the same size of the runner guides, but is not that uncommon to find fishing rods with the tiptop size bigger than the running guide, but pretty weird to find a rod with the tiptop smaller than the last running guide.

[JasonGotaProblem]

Mystery solved. What it is, is the guide closest to the tip is slightly larger than the rest of the running guides. But it's not a huge difference. Like a 7 vs a row of 6's. For some reason it stuck out like a sore thumb the other day. Looking today I was second guessing myself.

In fact you can see the epoxy job is a bit sloppier than the others.

Still a good deal. Gonna be great after I redo the guides for the chosen reel. And maybe a few gold wraps. Subtle though. Nothing too crazy.