Rod Guilds

Started by mrbrklyn, August 08, 2018, 06:03:16 PM

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Jeri

Over the last 15 years of rod building we have come across a lot of guides from all sorts of various companies, with varying degrees of negativity. The only ring/guide that stands out are Fuji. Even their cheapest grade of 'O' (aluminium oxide) tends to be better than a lot of other rings with supposed higher quality ceramic inserts.

Basically Fuji use the same quality stainless steel for their frames across the whole range. The frames vary in style and technology, but they are all fit for extreme salt water use. What does change is the quality and performance of the various ceramic inserts, they get stronger and more friction free as the range goes up from 'O' to 'A' to 'N' to 'Sic' to 'T'. And in some cases they get thinner and lighter.

If Shimano say they have used Fuji guides, and the guides are actually stamped with 'Fuji' into the frame then the guide is probably a genuine Fuji, but the quality is then the question. As another poster has suggested, it would take someone very familiar to determine visually exactly which insert you have in the guide.

The point being for higher spec rods, where line speed in either casting or fish fighting is going to be high, then higher grade Fujis do a better job of coping with friction, and possible line deterioration. With our top line competition surf casting rods we do tend towards using Fujis with SiC, purely because of the lower friction characteristics exhibited during the casting operations. We could possibly get away with a much lower and cheaper grade like 'O', but our clients would suffer noise from the guides when using braid, and slightly greater line wear through use. In our case we judge that line noise during the cast equates to friction, and hence loss of casting distance.


As you original post suggested you might be using these reclaimed guides on a high spec blank, it might be a better investment to buy some new Fuji guides of an appropriate spec to your anticipated and desired performance.


Hope that helps

Cheers from sunny Africa

Reel 224

Some of the smaller Fuji guides don't have room for the Fuji name stamp but most of the larger ones do. When it comes to that I will trust my supplier.


Joe
"I don't know the key to success,but the key to failure is trying to please everyone."

day0ne

Quote from: oc1 on August 08, 2018, 08:08:39 PM
I use some sort of razor knife and cut on top of the foot.  You can bare down on it a little because if the knife goes too deep it will only hit the metal foot of the guide and not the rod.
-steve

X2
David


"Lately it occurs to me: What a long, strange trip it's been." - R. Hunter