Torrix line guides and spacing

[Neil Blood]

I have a couple of 12ft 1.75 TC Torrix, which I'm very pleased with, having used them on the Wye last weekend for 3 days. One thing I note however is that the rod builder has fitted 9 line guides to each rod, where normally I'm used to 11 line guides fitted i.e. as seen on GTI's and Chimeras that I've owned in the past. Also the line guide closest to the reel is further away than I'm used to, and as a result of this, I feel the rod's playing action is more tip to middle than through action.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't a complaint, as the rods have proved to be very capable when it comes to chucking 3oz feeders across the river and playing hard fighting Barbel. I am however curious as to what other Torrix users think in terms of number of fitted line guides and spacing, and how it affects the rods action?

 

[Conrad Farlow]

Neil I haven't counted the number of rings on mine to be honest but they are perfect. Mine were made by Bob Gill who will perhaps comment. He's blanking (his words) on the Bristol Avon today.

Conrad

 

[Bob Gill]

I'm not going to attempt to bore people with a lengthy explanation, but I apply the following rule of thumb for a general barbel rod - 12' rod 12 guides including the tip, 11' 11 guides including the tip.
Actual spacings will depend on the blank - this is usually obtained by fitting the rings where you think they should be with tape or suitable fixing method and then running line through the rings (I use a nice bright red fly line backing for this) and putting a bend in the blank and looking to see if the line then follows the curvature of the blank smoothly. Turn rod 'upside down' and repeat seeing if the line touches the blank.
Move position of rings to suit. You may have to add or subtract a ring to achieve this.

A couple of things - the number of rings, sizes and spacings will vary from maker to maker as rings are time and money. That is not to say that you cannot get an acceptable result with fewer rings.The positioning and size of the butt ring will vary as well, some opinions and rules of thumb here as well.

Customers - some customers will specify the number of rings they want and although I can only advise them about this this can lead to more or less number of guides/rings being fitted on their rod.

When you consider that carp rods often have large and few rings then certain theories can go out the window.

Action of built rod - can depend on rings, type, weight, singles or doubles or whether the rod was built on the axis for best straightness or the spine. Notice I said can as there seems to be lots of varied opinions out there.
I've even gone to sleep now.....didn't blank today Conrad.

Bob