Thread: Stripper guide size ?????

Just got a rod delivered today and it looks like the USPS folks had some trouble reading the "Fragile" signs all over the package. The stripper guide was bent almost flat and must be replaced. I would estimate the outside diameter to be around 45mm - what is the size of this guide? I've searched the interweb and can not find a chart that correlates size to diameter.

vintage rod, SS wire guides

It's probably a 40mm or 50mm guide. Wire guides are cheap. The easiest way to tell is to measure the outer diameter from contact points on either side of the guide, as they should still be close to the original size. The replacement guides can be picked up at Rod room, or mudhole.com

I would try to straight out the guide first. Many of yesteryear's wire guides were made a lot better than today's wire guides, it's worth a shot.

A bigger concern would be to check that the force great enough to crush that guide may have impacted the rod as well.
That force would have been absorbed by the guide feet and the blank underneath.
First thing I would do is strip the wrap off the guide to check the blank for damage at those spots.

Originally Posted by Pier#r

A bigger concern would be to check that the force great enough to crush that guide may have impacted the rod as well.
That force would have been absorbed by the guide feet and the blank underneath.
First thing I would do is strip the wrap off the guide to check the blank for damage at those spots.

A fewweeks ago I went trout fishing and the cooler slid across the back of the truck bed on those windey mountian roads and hit the eyes on one of my poles. I straightened them back out and went fishing, the first fish I caught was a decent trout and my rod just snapped in half. Thank God for electric tape, it was ugly but I was back fishing in no time! 20160704_180527.jpg20160704_180527.jpg20160704_180527.jpg

FedEx for shipping rods. They just seem to take better care of packages.UPS is the worst.

The rods were wrapped in a layer of very thin packing foam, and covered with brown paper twisted together on the ends - and mailed from California.....it's a wonder they made it with only this limited damage.
I must admit, the seller was legit and straight up. In the end, he refunded my purchase price completely, and I only paid for shipping. The rod is solid, and has a slow tip - but good backbone.

As every man knows, any tragedy can be a reason to buy new tools. I think a rod wrapping stand is in order.

So, it will become another experiment. The cork is in good shape, but the vintage reel seat is a bit tight for a 704 foot. I am going to remove all the guides and strip the rod down to the blank.
The grip will be converted to a split grip style with cord wrapped body to reduce weight. A whole new set of guides is only $10 and I believe I will use the 27x layout.

This will be fun as I have never done it before. Hopefully this old dog can learn a few new tricks.

Woof Woof!
I'll post pics of the project.