Ok, I have started wrapping my own rods recently. I truley enjoy it. I have caught on my own rod which was a great feeling.
Here is my question, I am planning on attempting my first "acid"-spiral wrap. Is there any set formula as to how many are on top of the blank before you start rolling them over to the bottom. I have done the stadic deflection with a few different setups, and to be honest most looked right. I just don't wanna get it all wrapped and have some more knowledgable rod builder say "that's wrong" because I am the type to strip it down and start again. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, unless I get some wise arse remark, in that case:p
~Chris

Chris, I've done a bunch acid,spiral wrapped rods, I'll dig up some info for u later and send it to you.

Chris, I've done a bunch acid,spiral wrapped rods, I'll dig up some info for u later and send it to you.
Thanks Bro :btu:

Chris,
First guide staight up and next 2 to make transition around the rod rest on bottom of rod usually equally spaced. I find that if I secure the 1st guide and put the rest on with rubber bands,leave the 2nd and 3rd guide on top and rest under. put the reel on and secure the end of the line to something, load the rod a little and the 2nd and 3rd guides will usually twist to close to where they have to be. Some guys like the 1st guide straight on with the reel, some like it offset to the left a little. I tried both, noticed no diff. Get the guides where u think the transition looks good and test cast it, make sure line doesn't hit the blank anywhere. You may have to move guides back or forth a little to achieve that. Trial and error, that's the fun in it. I'll try to post pix of some I've done, it's tough to show in pix though.

Here goes, this is a boat rod.

Bottom side.

Whats the purpose for a spiral wrapped rod anyway?

Have you ever fought a good fish on a conv. rod and the rod tries to twist/torque to one side?It's because the guides are mounted on top and the line pressure tries to pull the rod to one side. Where as with a spinning rod, guides are on the bottom so the rod cannot twist on you. When u spiral/Acid wrap a rod, you are transfering torque to the botton of the rod, thus eliminating torquing the rod to one side. It's actually pretty cool fighting a fish on a spiral wrapped rod, you have a lot more power and control to turn a big fish. Plus it's something different.:spin:

It is also far from "new" his name escapes me but I know it was being done in like 1908-1909. The reasons for doing so are as Dave mentioned, torque transfer and also by doing a "acid" wrap sometimes you can eliminate a guide or two thus less wieght. Also you don't see too many people doing them, why, I have no idea.......
I am just enjoying learning a new craft, keeps me busy on the days the wife would like me to stick around the house, :D Not sure she had wrapping rods in mind but, oh well....
Thanks alot Dave, that is pretty much how I was setting it up. Actually, I was skipping the first 2 or 3 guides and putting the guide on the 180 axis with the reel in place, then putting the first 2 guides on following the transition of the line around the rod, hoping to minimize the amount of direction changes the line takes, (like that just made any sense):spin:

Chris, here are a few sites with lots of good info on rodbuilding.
Check out the photo galerry in the 1st one.

http://www.rodbuilding.org/list.php?2

http://www.visualwrap.com/

Chris, i was just thinking about this more, reason some guys off set the 1st guide to left is to make it easier to level the line on the reel with your thumb an non level wind reels of course.

I spiral all of my conventional rods. Get a lot of weird looks and comments, but thats okay. I aslo off-set my stripper guide about 30 degrees to the left. It does make it a lot easier to thumb the line back onto a nonlevel wind reel. Just guied the line to the right, and it automatically goes back to the left on it's own. Some say the off-set stripper will cause the line to pile up on the left side of the reel when you use a level wind, but I have never had that problem. Give spiral wrapping a try, you just might find something you really like.

Me too - all conventionals I do are spiral.

Once I landed my first bass on my own spiral I was sold. The advantage of the reduced torque really comes into play when you fight a strong fish like a 40-85lb class Black Drum or any good sized Tuna - heck anything that fights like a bulldog.

Fishaholic - you explained it VERY well!!!!! Sometimes when I try to explain it to others they look at me like I'm speaking French :poke: :conf:

I have read one negative thing. I read on a rodbuilding forum awhile back that the blank receives the torque instead of you and it can cause "premature" blank failure. Note - they author fights giant bluefin - he wasn't talking about striper rods or tog. He had a few bust on bruisers where he felt it was the design that caused the failure.

I have read one negative thing. I read on a rodbuilding forum awhile back that the blank receives the torque instead of you and it can cause "premature" blank failure. Note - they author fights giant bluefin - he wasn't talking about striper rods or tog. He had a few bust on bruisers where he felt it was the design that caused the failure.
Now that's interesting... Have to look into that.:uhuh:

Thanks again Dave, it is just about done. I took a few pics along the way, and my rod building sensi showed me a cool way of aligning the 3 guides around the rod. Saved me a few bucks too because I was able to go down a few sizes on the guides (SIC). expensive little buggers. I will post the pics when I get done. I did offset the stripper guide approx 30 degress, I was also told by offsetting it it will cast a little better. The trial seemed to work pretty well. Thanks again, enjoying my new craft alot, I enjoy the challenge of learning a new skill.....