Too many guides on spinning rods?

[fishmounter]

I noticed that the better quality "name brand" spinning rods have more line guides on them than the cheaper, less expensive rods do. It seems to me that for a spinning rod where line comes off a spinning reel spool in coils or loops, the guides would slow down the line going through them during the cast, due to the line rubbing on them (friction). I would think that the more guides that the line has to go through and touch, the slower the line will go from the reel and make for a shorter cast. I understand that you need a certain amount of guides to keep the line off of the rod when it is bent while fighting a fish, but some of those rods have like 9 or 10 guides on a 6 or 7 foot rod. I usually put 7 guides plus a tip on a 6 foot spinning rod blank with the first one a large diameter "gathering" guide. As for conventional baitcasting type rods, you can put on as many guides as you want because the line comes off the reel in a straight line while casting, not coils to hit the guides.. I think the "name brand" companies put extra guides on spinning rods to make them look better and to charge more..

[DEVOREFLYER]

My tournament partner flew out from So Carolina to back seat with me in late September. He had brought with him the most fantastic spinning rod I have seen. It was a Duckett Micro Magic Pro Spinning Rod, a spinning rod with micro guides and the first guide is something I/you have never seen before. I was sure this was going to be a joke but the distance it achieves is nothing but amazing. The small first guide removes the coil from the line and eliminated friction on the other guides unlike conventional spinning guides. No problem throwing light weight stuff in the wind either. It is on my list to replace my current Carrot Stick spinning rod.

[fishmounter]

I've seen those crazy guides before. You've seen it in action, so I guess they work. Those rods are nice, but they are still pricey at around $160-$170. Did you notice how many guides it had?

[DEVOREFLYER]

He paid $159 at Academy Sports in So Carolina, they are in stock at Tackle Warehouse for the same price. My partner had the 6'6" model and it had 8 guides plus the tip. I had 8# Nanofil on my Carrot Stick and he had 12# on the Duckett Micro Majic Pro and I could get 20%+ more distance on the Duckett. It was simply amazing how little effort it took to getting great distance throwing an unweighted Pro Senko.

[ogrich31]

There are a lot of things to consider when you make a spinning rod, but yes, more guides means more friction, but less guides means you lose some power on the rod (due to less line curve). A rod that's made to cast the farthest might not be the best rod for fighting a fish.

With that said, if you build with the New Guide Concept (NGC) or KR Concept, the only guides that really matter are your first two or three guides, then there's a small choker guide, then the same size running guides all the way to the top (usually spread between 4-6"). That usually turns out to more guides than the cone of flights system.

I don't know if rod companies mark up prices for more guides, but generally speaking, companies get them for a lot cheaper than you or me could. Also, I believe custom is the way to go with rods, especially spinning rods, since you can build the guidetrain according to the reel you are using.