Builiding my first rod and have a basic question on finding the spine of the blank. I's a 7' heavy action graphite (Am. Tackle M701), which will be wrapped for casting. I've read two references, and am still a little unclear.

To find the spine, I placed the butt on the counter, and supported the rod at a 45 degree angle with my left hand up near the tip end. I put a little pressure on the middle with my right hand to flext the rod, and rolled it on the counter. The book says to feel for a stiff plane, where the rod "jumps". It was my impression that there would be a soft exactly opposit the stiff side, and that the guides should be placed on one or the other for spinning or casting.

I did this, and it seems that there are two stiff points in the rotation, opposite each other, before I do one complete rotation. Is this stiff plane of bending the spine, and the guides can be placed on either side of the rod as it is stiff in both directions?

fun isn't it,,,I found in the past blanks with no spine[hard spot] at all. keep spinning the rod till you have found both, mark them both , then do it a few more times to see which one is the hardest of the two an build off that one.

Thanks CS, one more question... after finding stiffest point, which side do I put the guides on for a casting rod (the references seem to conflict)?


The rod will be bent down toward the ground while rotating. I will mark the tape on the TOP of the blank, or the belly of the bend, at the stiffest point. Should the guides be placed on the opposite side of the mark, or the side facing the ground, to keep this same deflected shape while fishing?

When you determine where the spine is - you will mark the OUTSIDE of the bend in the blank. The guides should go on this mark.

Anyone have any thoughts about the location of the spine being overrated? (You know this will lead to a spiral wrap disussion, lol)

when u find the hardest spot an have marked that spot on the blank,,,if your building a covn. the guides go on that same mark, if your going spin the guides go on the opposite side of that mark..If you put the guides just off set of that hard spot the rod will at times will want to jump to the side or roll if its a conv. ..

Thanks :D

Cape - won't that happen anyway with the guide on top. The only way to prevent the rod from Rolling would be to point the rod directly at the fish, and to hold on tight ?

I think the spine is most important when fighting the fish, since the spine always wants to rotate opposite the applied load , it should be on the guide side for a conventional and opposite the guide side for a spinner. I think its not too important on a spinner but very importatnt on a conventional. I never spine a rod for casting performance , always for fish fighting. Now , I'm just getting into flyrods so I may change my mind about that for flyrods but for normal rods , I always spine to minimize twist while fighting a fish.

Yes , spiral wrapping is a great idea for boat rods , but I'm not sure its that good for long surfcasting rods.

interesting topic to go into, billy. yeah, i can say on some rods the spine is overrated, but on others it's imperitive. ooo, spiral...

For spining, lay each piece of the blank horizontally across two support points. Use a loop of yarn to hang a suitable, but light weight, half way between the two support points. The rod section will naturally rotate to the spined condition. Mark the concave side, side facing upwards, of each section. Assemble the blank so that the marks are in allignment. Check the spine of the assembled blank. All of the marks should face upward. In a sense, nature is telling you how the rod wants to bend.

As for the guides, I install them in the position the rod sees when fighting a fish. Hopefully the fish will pull harder on the rod than the effort exerted on the rod during casting.