Anyone ever use Winthrop guides?

[Mr. Sandman]

I am thinking of having a couple tuna rods built with them and maybe their adjustable butt if I can get one.

They are pricey but they appear to be much more rugged and have a really nice bearing compared to the aftcos. Machined out of a solid block of titanium, no joints or welds. I have seen them a couple times on big time sportfish rigs but it is not something I see very often. I have never seen the adjust-butt but would like to try it out.

[Saltheart]

I never used them (never heard of them actually) . I go with the Aftcote on very heavy rods.

From your description they do sound like a quality product though. Machined from Ti blocks should make them pretty solid and corrosion resistant.

[Mr. Sandman]

Winthrop Tackle

They are pricey though...like 275/set

[Saltheart]

They all look nice and appear to have high precision. There are also Aluminum and Stainless in addition to the Ti ones.

$275 is high for a set of guides but compared to the rest of the expense to rig a boat for "the big ones" , $275 disappears pretty quickly.

[pbadad]

275.00 a steal when a set of titanium LC low riders w/ ti tip is around $200.00. Those solid frames look sweet.

[stripermaineiac]

I have a set here that a rep showed me an wants a rod built around them. I made a couple tuna set upe with Fin Nors for him yrs back. Solid,rugged and well woth the money. Titanium rollers are some nice and the design is well thought out. no room for the line to sneak past a roller and loads of room for wind on leaders in them. A50lb class rod would be in the $600 ballpark with these an a good blank with an Aftco reel seat.You get what you pay for with them but the other parts and a good wrap job make cost go up.Supposedly some company is gonna use them on stock rods. just be careful as many only use one layer of thread on top guide wraps.

[makomania]

If you want the best of the best, go with the Winthrops. They're also big enough for the largest swivels you'd ever want to windon, you can fit a pencil through em!