# Curious about the rod's spine



## drum junky (Jan 23, 2008)

Been looking at rod building videos on youtube, and am thinking of building one. Im sure i will have more questions if i do decide to build, but I was watching a video about finding the spine so i figured i would just check out some older cheapo rods i have and it seems like to me (the most beginner of beginners) that the guides on these rods were WAY off the spine, like 45 degrees off! Is this one of the benefits in building your own rod versus a cheap store bought one? Just curious? THANKS


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## Tacpayne (Dec 20, 2008)

Yes this is a benefit. I am new to rod buidling myself, I have read about everything I can find about it. There are plenty of well respected builders who say that the spine of a rod doesnt matter. I personally always build on the spine unless there is a noticable curve in the blank, then I build on teh straightest axis. Bookmark this website. i have spent countless hours reading on it. There are some of the best builders in the world on here giving good tips.http://rodbuilding_tutorials.webs.com/


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## HellRhaY (Jul 6, 2007)

build on the straightest axis. spine is an old wives tale.


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## basstardo (Jun 5, 2006)

HellRhaY said:


> build on the straightest axis. spine is an old wives tale.


What he said. You have both sides of the argument, and really either will work, but spining really makes no difference. This topic has been beaten to death, so just use what you're comfortable with.


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## jcreamer (Mar 6, 2001)

basstardo said:


> What he said. You have both sides of the argument, and really either will work, but spining really makes no difference. This topic has been beaten to death, so just use what you're comfortable with.


Right just build it right annd build it straight and it will work out. I do not build elaborate designs but what I call a working rod and all of mine work very well.

John


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## WALT D. (Dec 18, 2003)

I still look at the spine of every rod I build just for my curiosity, but aside from the heavy offshore stuff I don't worry so much about building on it; I just shoot for the straightest axis.


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## TreednNC (Jul 1, 2005)

yikes. I tried that when I was contemplating building my 1267 casting instead of spinning and it wanted to roll roll roll with me.


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