I have a few older Loomis rods that have not seen time in quite a while. When looking at one of the GLX rods that is essentially brand new with the older Wiebe reel seat, I noticed that one of the guides doesn't look to be SiC. Never noticed this before and the rod was purchased brand new. There is not indication that it was ever a demo, etc. and the wraps/epoxy are all factory. It is essentially brand new circa 1999-2001. Could Loomis have made this error in production or was/is it supposed to be like that? It looks like the guide insert is Hardloy or maybe Alconite but the frame color is also slightly different. It is the second guide up from the bottom of the rod. Weird. Thanks for any/all help and best wishes on the water!

back then Loomis was famous for having amazing blanks but crappy guide rings. they never advertised the material like they do now. I used to have older IMX models with the weibe seats that just had aluminum oxide rings and these were expensive back in the day. 

 

I know more modern GLX rods used SIC but I dont think the first versions did.