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Most of the custom rods I have were built by two people--Mike Thomas and a guy down here, Bobby Tutorello at Causeway B&T. The guides are usually aligned along the spine no matter what style of rod it is.
Back in the day when I could only afford one rod, it was an old Harnell my dad had re-wrapped spinning. I cut my teeth on a Squidder using that rod with spinning guides.
It's not worth re-wrapping a spinner as conventional. You can put a casting reel on it. I'm not sure whether that 10' St Croix has a 40 or 50 first guide, but either way, I was casting my Squidder on that Harnel when it had a 75 mm Mildrum as the first guide.
The fact that the 10' St Croix spinner has only 4 guides plus a tip means you will get line contact with the blank between guides. It may even get below the blank. I've never found this to be that big a deal, either. Way back when, most builders at the Cape used 4 wire guides on a 10' conventional, and all of my first conventional customs were built that way. The thinking back then was that fewer guides = less guide friction and a longer cast. Some old school guys up there still build them that way. The line will touch the blank in 3 or 4 places under a load. They don't care.
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