Guide placement

[farmin542]

Is there a trick to getting the guides centered on the blank in relation to the reel seat, or do you just "eyeball them"? Probly sounds like a dumb question but I never put on guides before. Im gonna try it on a Carrot Stix blank I broke for a practice run to see if I can do it on a good rod.

[dpage70]

When I'm putting guides on a rod I use a 3" level to get the seat level and then about 1/4" above where every guide is I put a piece of tape on the blank and draw a center line. That way as I wrap each guide I can just center the guide with the line. All it will leave is some very slight tweaking side to side, which is I do by eyeballing it. I've tried laser levels, strings and just about everything else I can think of and this way works best for me.

[nektarios]

I eye ball it and adjust the guides after wrapping.
Don't wrap too tight and it should be easy to adjust side to side.

[sarmst100]

I do about like dpage70 does, string level on the reelseat but no tape. I line the blank up with my line of sight up with the slot on the bottom of my wrapping stand to center the guide and tweak before adding finish.

[cidgrad]

I find it's easier to line them up looking from the tip to butt than the other way. I just eyeball and go.

I know St Croix has set up a laser system - but to use something like that you have to build on straightest axis.