Gald to see some semi quantitative data. Got to give you credit for going out there and doing it.
Now I will give you an honest critique on what you did and my honest interpretation of the info presented. I'm not criticising your work , just telling you what I see in your description. I'll start from the top.
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Taped on guides at the exact layout of a GSB1201L I have been using.
Titanium Lowriders into small runners.......about as good a layout as I can build.
taped on guides vs wrapped and epoxied guides. huge energy absorption of taped on guides. Exact layout as the GSB 120 1l despite the fact that your own static deflection test tells you not to use the same guide placements. Titanium lowriders ...on a moderate action 10 footer? To comment on this would involve direct criticism rather than just a different interpretation so I'll just point it out without further comments.
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Under high load (about 12lbs of drag) the Century has a stiffer lower half and softer upper 1/2. I don't have a picture to show this, but it is about how an Arra would bend relative to a GSB.
As I noted , the rod stacks up like a long bow as you get into the mid to high range of the blank. More casting power and more fish fighting power as you use the mid section of the rod to cast heavier loads and fight big fish , not the tips. Since the pictures should all show the extreme butt ends coming off the table at exactly the same height , the gap showing each rod lower than the one above it is deceiving. It does not neagte your conclusions on the actions , but to me it looks like with that correction that the higher power of the Stealth kicks in about 1/3 down the rod length vs 1/2 down the rod length. This further supports what I say about the relative power of the rods.
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the GSB threw just as far or a bit further with all weights. ... This where actual nuimbers would be prefered.
The Century was at a slight disadvantage because the guides were taped on and the reel seat on tape bushings (which makes things a little mushy)... slight disadvantage by how guides held on and placement relative to most active area of the century blank being further back than that of the GSB.
the rod is new to me so timing was awkward at first but comfortable after 20 casts or so. Very definitely I could not establish a significant distance advantage to either blank throwing as hard as I can cast.
If a rod you have never cast before casts with no significant difference in distance compared to a rod you have owned and used regularly , then it seems obvious that the GSB is casting the way it always does but the Stealth will ceratinly gain significance distance after you have had it and used it for a month and get the action relative to your casting timing down. To me , this is the biggest problem with the whole comparison. When I start using a new rod , its takes me a good months to get the max out of the new rod and its almost all to do with timing the casting motion with the action of the new rod.
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I did think the Century felt "crisper". As Mike P posted, at lighter weights the rod did cast with less effort than the GSB. I also was impressed at how smooth the rod unloaded at 3.5 oz, where the Lami seemed to be maxing out, but throwing somewhat further.
Clearly you sense better recovery in the Stealth and more power kicking in at the higer loads. Distance is far more related to timing under that kind of condition and it takes some time to get used to a rod with a different loading profile , slower action but faster recovery.
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My overall conclusions , a Stealth 10 footer with taped on guides , the guide sizes and placements on which were optimized on the 1201L but not on the Stealth, cast with no significant distance difference despite the fact that the 1201L was fully wrapped and epoxied with optimized guide locations.
"Your rod" a 120 1L with which you have large amounts of casting experience, with all the casting nuances of back loading , forward movement and punch up and release and especially timing (the single biggest factor in casting) ingrained in your body muscle memory vs a rod with significant action and associated power profile difference for which no guide adjustments were made and that you had never cast before in your life, only performed equally despite everything being to its advantage in the test.
The Stealth has obvious advantages in casting weight range and in recovery rate and recovery smoothness. It has more power as you go up in the casting weight range and the more powerful mid to bottom section should show better fish fighting characteristics on larger fish.
My conclusion, I cannot wait to see what the Stealth 10 feeter will do with an optimized build after i have learned to cast it for a month or so.
Anyway , comparing your analysis of the data and mine , one might think we had seen a totally different movie!
