A good friend of mine built me a custom casting rod and surprised me with it out of the blue! WOW that was one of the best gifts I ever received. I am very fond of fishing gear and take very good care of all I have. i still fish Mitchell 300 and Mitchell 408 spinning reels when I am not using the 14 bait-casters. Don't misunderstand it's not the dollar value but the thought and work put in for me. I was very happy. Not to go on, my question is that he rapped the guides so that the first one is in the standard casting position but the next 2 wrap around the blank and the other 8 + tip are on the bottom like a spinning rod. I think this is very cool and different. The rod is fantastic but does the position of the eyes help or hurt the performance of the rod? Just curious. I have seen some like it on web sites but no one I know uses one. Thanks for reading and looking forward to your input.

Spiral wrapped rods are not new and they do look at little strange at first glance. Casting you will not notice much if any difference but when you hookup a fish the first time you will not want to go back to conventional rods. You will like it.

I think the theory behind it is to keep the line from contacting the blank when the rod has a load on it. idlov2fish is right once you use it you'll like it. I love my custom (thanks Flechero)

The first spiral was in 1902, then closeted until the 70's when Richard Roberts (Kansas City) started them back up and the term Roberts Wrap, Acid Wrap on the west cost, and Spiral Wrap was coined.

The style you described, is one more style the O'Quinn style of a gradual rotation of the line (with multiple guides) to the underside or 180° mark much like spinning rods (used mostly on heavy salt rods. Now days we build what is called a simple spiral that uses the 1st or stripper guide lined up and centered with the reel face, and the next guide is called a bumper, this guide is used to keep the line off of the blank when casting and fighting, and, takes the line immediately to the bottom or 180° mark.

The whole process is to make heavy duty rods that can use heavy line, large lures, and have the stability of a spinning rod.

Would never consider fishing anything but a spiral wrap...

Tight Lines!!!!  

I actually stay away from the simple spiral and use a modified spiral that I've picked up from rodbuilding.org.  I set my first guide in/around 90 degrees, adjustment occurs so the line never makes contact with the blank(under load).  My second guide transitions the line to my first 180 degree guide, which is typically a 3mm micro ran to tip.

 I allow the line to lay against the blank, and I mark the natural progression of the line through the 180 degree transition.  I find this method works much better than the "simple spiral", when it comes to casting/lure type presentations.

dick,

That's great.....

But in my testing and 15 years of wrapping them, there is no evidence of increased or decrease in the casting abilities of any spiraled rods (doesn't matter which style is laid out). The whole thing behind spiraling a rod is to stabilize BC rods nothing more....

Tight Wraps & Tight Lines!!!!

That's great and I pretty much agree. I don't think I stated I could achieve an increase in casting distance. I do however fully disagree that spiral wrappings only contribution is stability.

What I can do, is decrease the number of guides used to make the transition, thus decreasing the amount of friction made in the abrupt move to 180 degrees. In my short building experience, I get a smoother casting, smoother reeling, lighter, and more sensitive rod.

Stability is just a "perk" for me.