I don't do a lot of builds, maybe two or three a year, and I'm looking for a better way to keep the guides in place while I wrap them.  I've been using those super small rubber bands and they work fine for a 'normal' size guide foot, but I'll be starting a build with micro guides, not my idea, and there isn't much foot to begin with.  Any hacks that have worked for you that you'd care to share?

 

I'm a novice but this helpe me 

https://mudhole.com/products/crb-guide-foot-adhesive

Here's another option

https://mudhole.com/products/crb-micro-guide-bands?pr_prod_strat=e5_desc&pr_rec_id=da0fd1bb8&pr_rec_pid=4943693381765&pr_ref_pid=4943689678981&pr_seq=uniform

 

A-Jay

I’m thinking you could try a piece of scotch tape.  Tape the guide in place. You can use the same piece of tape to hold the beginning of the thread wrapping.  
Kinda how the old persimmon wood golf clubs were wrapped around the hosel.  

Tape is not the answer on small micros, simply not enough of a foot.  The Mudhole little red bands do work on micros even near the tips of the blanks.  Bigger bands work better farther down where the blank diameter gets too big.  The Mudhole guide foot adhesive can work, too, but it's a little tricky to get the right amount onto the foot and the guide aligned perfectly before it hardens.  https://mudhole.com/products/crb-micro-guide-bandsl  I suggest ordering them both and practice with them until you get it down.  It is a challenge, for sure.

I always used surgical tubing for the bulk of my guides.  I bought a 100' piece 20 years ago and still have most of it.  When I'm laying out a rod I grab the bulk and snip pieces off the end to make my own bands.  The surgical tubing has a fairly small ID and is snug to the blank all the way to the last 6" on most rods.  Once you add a small guide foot under it it is usually enough to hold the guide enough to get 3-4 wraps up the taper and onto the main foot.  For the very rare occasions that I had a super skinny tip (something that ended up with a 4 or smaller tip top) and also a thin wire guide like a recoil fly guide I would grab my box of floats and use a float cap.  A mixed box of them is about $4 and I had them around for float fishing anyway.  The tiniest ones barely fit a piece of heavy mono through them without stretching.  

 

 

 

Monofilament uniknot loop.  This was the smallest guide I could find, size 2 runner.

 

 

Tiny zip ties work well for me. Cut them off with side cutters once I have wrapped enough thread to hold the guide in place. If needed, I also will put a wrap of thin masking tape behind the guide ring on small single footers so they don't move backwards while wrapping.

The little red bands from Mud Hole do work well on even the smallest guide on the tiniest of diameter blanks, but they are tricky to roll on. 

 

I bought silicone dental elastics that do work on micro guides. The red bands from Mud Hole work much better. The dental elastics need to be bunched up near the guide ring so you have enough foot to wrap on. The Mud Hole bands are so small that once stretched on you barely see them and you can wrap the entire guide without removing it. I really like having about 3/4 of the foot wrapped before I cut off any bands, but that is just how I work. 

Surgical tubing cut into small rings, and dental ligatures for the guides towards the tip

On 11/5/2024 at 10:06 PM, papajoe222 said:

... Any hacks that have worked for you that you'd care to share?

I been using the guide foot adhesive for a long time. If you stand directly over the top of the rod you can get it dead center almost every time. I will heat the guide foot...and rub the adhesive on the bottom of the foot. I will then reheat the guide foot before I place it. You can actually move it a bit once its wrapped. The guide foot adhesive is nothing other than the white hot-melt glue. One stick is virtually a lifetime supply.

CRB Micro Guide Bands are what I use for size 4 guides. They work really well near the tip top. 

 

https://mudhole.com/products/crb-micro-guide-bands?srsltid=AfmBOopT4KwXS520kZMrd3F4YJTU_hTU2BkEP9WXTRGDi50vT0AXdUW5