I have a 1208 built spinning to throw mono,,, Humugus guides ..I'd like to strip it and downsize big heavy guides to smaller ones to suit braid.. CMS built the rod and epoxy looks thick .. any tips ? This stuff looks bullet proof ..

Eddie, I am re-wrapping my 1145, stripping it wasn't that bad.

If you warm up the epoxy with a heat gun it will get soft. Don't heat it too long or too hot. You are not melting it just warming it which makes it soft..

To take off the guides, Warm up the foot of 1 guide and then take a razor blade and with the guide facing up, lay the blade flat on the guide about 1/2 way up the foot and push it up towards the ring. You are kind of planing thru the epoxy and using the guide as a backstop so you don't cut the blank.

Once you do this part you should be able to pick a thread and unwind the guide wrap. if the epoxy is warm/soft enough the thread will cut thru it as you unwind it.

For the underwraps I heated one end and once it was warm I just used something plastic to pick off enough epoxy to expose some thread. Then lay the razor blade on the blank and using a corner of it just pick under the part you got the epoxy off to cut the end of the underwrap. Once you have a thread end exposed just warm as you go and pulling the thread will cut it all off as you unwind it.

When I had it all off, I ended up cleaning the blank with acetone on a cloth to to get the epoxy that had penetrated under the thread off the blank.

Thanks Dave .. I was hoping to leave the under wrap and keep same guide layout .. pretty much the same layout as my 10' lami triflex plus one extra small guide towards the tip .. I don't mind an extra..

Eddie, I am re-wrapping my 1145, stripping it wasn't that bad.

If you warm up the epoxy with a heat gun it will get soft. Don't heat it too long or too hot. You are not melting it just warming it which makes it soft..

To take off the guides, Warm up the foot of 1 guide and then take a razor blade and with the guide facing up, lay the blade flat on the guide about 1/2 way up the foot and push it up towards the ring. You are kind of planing thru the epoxy and using the guide as a backstop so you don't cut the blank.

Once you do this part you should be able to pick a thread and unwind the guide wrap. if the epoxy is warm/soft enough the thread will cut thru it as you unwind it.

For the underwraps I heated one end and once it was warm I just used something plastic to pick off enough epoxy to expose some thread. Then lay the razor blade on the blank and using a corner of it just pick under the part you got the epoxy off to cut the end of the underwrap. Once you have a thread end exposed just warm as you go and pulling the thread will cut it all off as you unwind it.

When I had it all off, I ended up cleaning the blank with acetone on a cloth to to get the epoxy that had penetrated under the thread off the blank.

:agree:

the guide spacing on a "big guided rod" typically uses the "cone-of-flight" )COF) method where you can look thru all the rings to the tip and see each one in the previous one. if you go with smaller guides and the New Guide Concept (NGC) method, you should only need to do this on the first 3 or 4 transition guides. after that, you have runners all the same size to the tip, which can be 12s, 10s, 8s, or even 6s.. so, you really cant keep the same spacing as they were for different methods. the NGC will use about 6-9 guides on a 9 to 10' rod. a COF method might only use 4-6 guides.

FWIW, either leave the rod alone and sell it or keep it and then buy another rod to build. it's a pain sometimes to strip a rod, especially one that is painted. you will take off some of the matte finish and end up seeing graphite fibers where you stripped the previous guide.

FWIW, either leave the rod alone and sell it or keep it and then buy another rod to build. it's a pain sometimes to strip a rod, especially one that is painted. you will take off some of the matte finish and end up seeing graphite fibers where you stripped the previous guide.

I understand "Cone of flight" being critical with mono.. I was hoping braid, not having any memory wouldn't be as critical .. This rod is well built and seems hardly fished .. not a scratch . Its useless to me set up for mono ..I only know 2 people in the whole world still plugging mono . Anyone want to trade an Allstar 1208 blank for this .. Pics are compared spacing to a lami triflex (a 10 footer braid friendly ) .. pics compare 1st,,2nd guide,,pic of wrap ..

wrap

Just fish it Eddie. It'll handle braid just fine, even with the oversize 70 mm Pac stripper.

Your Triflex has BNOG casting guides. Some guys report problems with braid tangling around the guide feet on those. But if you're not having problems there, you won't with the bigger guides.

Using that Pac Bay BSHG 70 guide really makes a rod heavy. You could probably push the all the guides down in their original locations and add a 16mm near the tip. On 10ft surf rods we use a distance of 36" from the top of the reel seat to the center of the stripper guide which is better suited for a 50mm guide rather than that 70.

As for stripping it down the above poster's explanation is right on the money.

Just fish it Eddie. It'll handle braid just fine, even with the oversize 70 mm Pac stripper.

Your Triflex has BNOG casting guides. Some guys reprot problems with braid tangling around the guide feet on those. But if you're not having problems there, you won't with the bigger guides.

yea Mike I know its just a factory rod ,,but 3 yrs. loving the Tri-Flex..Custom rods have been staying home .. I think I might just take your advice and try as is .. Hate the weight of the big guides though ... feels top heavy and lazy.. I'm as poor as a sparrow now and would have to do it myself anyway.. :yak6: ... Thanks all for advice ...

Eddie,

Drop it by my way and I can take a look at it and maybe rewrap it with smaller guides if you want. Are you looking to keep it spinning? If so its no big deal to strip and put smaller guides on provided the underwrap stays intact. I've done it with several of my other rods.
Judging by the pics, you can downsize the guides without messing up the cone of flight and the rod will work fine with braid. I speak from experience on this as I've tied up several rods with the CMS layout and used smaller guides. At least a half dozen guys on this site have 1208 spinners I've built this way. You can replace the existing guides with alconites 40-30-25-20-16-12 and the rod will work great.

Wow ,,, Mike thanks.. means alot .. The fish are coming, I wouldn't do that to you .

Nice job Mike ,,, 1208 came to life with all that weight off it .. I think I'll get alot of use out of this stick ..

Tagger,

Glad it worked out for you. For anyone following this thread, we could have gone much smaller on the guides but wanted to keep the door open to the possibility of using mono. On strictly braid rods you can go way smaller on all the guides. Ed's rod lightened up big time with the alconite guides in place of the big hardoloy guides though.