I've been curious about spiral (or acid) wrap rods for some time. An entry by @Mick D got me to thinking; I have a 2-pc. Mojo Bass casting rod, MH/F, that I use most of the time. So I took it and reversed the top of the blank, mimicking a spiral wrap at its worst. The "worst" is the line rubbing on the side of the blank, which I thought would kill the distance.

   It didn't kill any distance with spinnerbaits or fat cranks. What it will do with longer-range lures, like spoons, I don't know. I'll need to experiment more.

 

   If anyone is curious about spiral wrap, just take the end piece of a 2-pc. and reverse it. You'll have a lot of questions answered right away. And you might be surprised.   ???    jj

When line shoots the friction on the blank or guides is inconsequential. The two piece experiment gives you an idea how it works. A true spiral is even better. 

I have a few. I don't really notice a difference in performance, but it looks cool!

 

I've got a couple spiral wrap rods for saltwater. The theory is that the spiral wrap helps to alleviate the side to side torque (tendency to roll) on the rod when fighting larger fish. Not sure how much help it would be for bass fishing.

4 hours ago, roadwarrior said:

I have a few. I don't really notice a difference in performance, but it looks cool!

 

I have built a few, didn't notice a difference in performance, but it looks screwy!  Different strokes. . .

14 minutes ago, NYBasser said:

Not sure how much help it would be for bass fishing.

 

   Depends on the power and action. The more the rod flexes, the more I would think the rod benefits from a spiral wrap. Not only that, but I fish from shore. Much of the time, I'm fighting a fish sideways, like off to my right or off to my left. I can't line up the way a boatman can. That's when I notice twist in the blank of the rod. I'd like to see whether the spiral wrap would act more like a spinning rod, which twists and loads much differently in that situation.

   And yes, sometimes I do fight the fish a little .... (ahem) .... enthusiastically.   ???   jj

I'm building a set of walleye trolling rods and they will be spiral wrapped.  If nothing else, it keeps the rod from flopping over in the rodholder due to the weight of the reel.