Do any production rod makers line up their guides with the spine of the blank?

[The Rooster]

I saw a video where Terry Scroggins was making a rod and he located the spine of the rod blank to line the guides up with it. He said most production rods don't do this, they just grab a blank and start attaching guides without any regard to the spine. I just paid $140 and $150 for two nice St. Croix rods, a Mojo and Premier. To me, that's a lot of money for a rod. I wonder if they're built with the spine in mind or just tossed together?

[Smallie_Stalker]

I believe there is a difference between the "spine" and the "spline" of the blank and there is, I believe, an ongoing debate as to which is better. We have some custom rod builders here who can answer that with certainty and detail.

I know that the Dobyns Kaden series is built on the spline and everyone that owns one says how great they are.

Personally, I find it a bit difficult to swallow the fact that any major rod manufacturer " just grabs a blank and starts attaching components." 

[FD]

There are two ways to build a rod on the spline (spine) or the straightest axis.

On the spline - built on the centerline of the blank, so to speak.  This puts the rod in a better position to handle rotational torque.  Most custom rods are built this way.  A splined rod with spiral wrap eliminates all rotational torque.

Straightest axis - if you look down a rod as you roll in in your hand, almost all of them have a bend near the tip.  Most commercial rods are built with the bend down as you would fish it.  This is for appearance only so they line up nice and straight on the rack a BPS. This is purely marketing driven.



Arti-FISH-ial Entertainment.    FDx Custom Rods.   CPFLURES.COM

[zippyduck]

I know for a fact that Dobyns and St. Croix both build on the spine. As for others i don't have any inside info.

[caddyjoe77]

this reminds me of the discussion around golf shafts.  same principle, just much longer.  Personally, i think it makes a difference. 

there were two methods used on a golf shaft -- one used a bearing to find the spine and one used a laser.  Not sure what the rod builders use. 

anyway, i think it does make a difference

[The Rooster]

I know for a fact that Dobyns and St. Croix both build on the spine. As for others i don't have any inside info.

I'm interested in how you came to know this about St. Croix. I did some more online digging after I posted this question, and it lead me to a video of a guided factory tour at St. Croix. It the video they told plainly that they use the straightest axis to line up the guides. The words spine and spline were never even mentioned.

[zippyduck]

I was a rep for St. Croix on the walleye side and they gave me a tour. But that was in the late 80's. Maybe they changed since then.
I am a rep for Dobyns now and they definitely build on the spline.

[philm63]

I can confirm at least the Dobyns rod I just got is lined up as it should be. My old factory Loomis is also lined up properly.

With about 3 or 4 inches of the rod tip in one hand and a finger under the blank (perpendicular) about a third of the way down from the tip - holding the rod out in front of me it will naturally rotate to a certain position.

When I built rods I'd use this technique and make a line with a wax pencil on what we called the backbone which for us was always the top of the blank. That always told us the rod wants to bend away from that line so we could easily do casting or spinning accordingly.

I want to believe the better companies will build their rods correctly...

[D.W. Verts]

You can also build a rod on the exact OPPOSITE side of the blank from the spine. Makes for a little more parabolic, "softer" rod, in my opinion.

The deal with lining the guides up on the spine is as much a quality issue- making sure that each rod has the same action, balance and feel.

Dale