It's not bad and I've see worse, but as a paying customer it doesn't make me happy. I wouldn't knowingly choose a rod like this. I got it from TW, but unfortunately my fiancee tossed the statement and return label because I left them on the table.

 

I think it's the 3rd guide up from the reel. Will this cause me any trouble? Will casting distance stuffer? Will I ever even notice it performance wise? I do want to return it, but not at a cost to me now that my return label is gone if it isn't going to be something that impacts performance. If it's just a cosmetic issue at most then I'll keep the $30+ it takes to ship it back, but if it can cause a performance issue I'll just eat it.

 

I tried my best with the camera. The rod is a Fury.

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's only a slight misalignment. I don't think you'll notice an impact. Might bug you mentally though. ?

Just now, Michigander said:

That's only a slight misalignment. I don't think you'll notice an impact. Might bug you mentally though. ?

A scratch on a reel takes an hour off my life.

And if you decide that you can't live with it, cutting a guide off and redoing it isn't a huge project.

If you can just forget about it, the rod will fish just fine.  If not, call TW

and see if you can work something out. Their customer service is one

of the best.

It's one of those things that happen occasionally. A couple of my rods have slight misalignment in the guides...hasn't affected the casting ability. If you can ignore it, just do that.

    People use SPIRAL WRAPPED rods and notice no loss of distance nor increased stress on the guides. The offset of those rods is many magnitudes worse than the offset on your rod, so you have no problem. It's just cosmetic.

  

   jj

It won't affect anything as far as fishing, but if it bothers you exchange it. That looks like a couple are just a bit off. 

I wish my wife would let me leave things on the table...

33 minutes ago, BassWhole! said:

It won't affect anything as far as fishing, but if it bothers you exchange it. That looks like a couple are just a bit off. 

I wish my wife would let me leave things on the table...

Which ones are you thinking are off? The 3rd one definitely is, but I can't tell if the first or second are or whether the third guide is creating an optical illusion.

 

Another look

 

 

Oh and don't be fooled. She puts stupid crap everywhere as you can see in the background. It's only a problem when I leave something like a couple papers on a table.

That would drive me nuts. 

I use a spiral wrapped rod where the tip is rotated 180* from the first guide. No two guides are even close to being aligned! It has zero effect as far as I can tell on casting distance. 

13 minutes ago, Skunkmaster-k said:

That would drive me nuts. 

Only if you spend your time sighting down your rods I'd think.

I don't remember ever seeing a rod that was 100% straight to begin with and in my experience most rods have a slightly misaligned guide or two. There really is no foolproof way of aligning guides that I know of. I've tried using one of those laser alignment fixtures that mount in the reel seat to do it. But I've not seen a blank that was straight enough so that this worked better than doing it by eye.

If it bothers you contact TW they have have a record of the sale. Looking at the photo the 1st and 3rd guide aligned, everything else isn’t. 

Tom

22 minutes ago, NOC 1 said:

Only if you spend your time sighting down your rods I'd think.

I don't remember ever seeing a rod that was 100% straight to begin with and in my experience most rods have a slightly misaligned guide or two. There really is no foolproof way of aligning guides that I know of. I've tried using one of those laser alignment fixtures that mount in the reel seat to do it. But I've not seen a blank that was straight enough so that this worked better than doing it by eye.

Not the rod , the papers