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Hello
Here's my take for what it's worth on ceramic guides !
When the ceramic guides first came out the were the new improved rod guide .
So wanting to always build the best rod I can offer my customers I tried them.
My Dad had just purchased a Lami Graphite 7' 4 weight blank and wanted me to twist it up for him.
We had all the new at the time information on the guides and the plan was to use them on the blank.
So I went ahead and built the rod up with the new fugi guides.
It took some getting used to and I felt like I only built half a rod as it was so fast to wrap only half the thread work was needed.
We test cast the rod and it really performed well the line shot through the guides very well .
By the end of the season my Dad requested that I strip the guides and re wrap the rod with traditional snakes.
One thing that was noted that if you bumped the rod or brushed it against a tree branch they would bend out of alignment.
Next was the problem of the line at times getting looped around the guide it's self.
I didn't like the way they looked on a rod either.
So after many years I only build a rod with single foots at the clients request .


As time goes by things change however.
I purchased all the rod building materials from a debunked rod shop last winter.
In the inventory I found these ceramic inserted snake guides.
I had never seen them before I had them in every size in Chrome ,Black and Gold .
I was building a Salt Water stick for myself and had incorporated my Infused Flex,Stent,and Dual Material experience from all my prototype work of the last few years into this rod .
So I decided to put these new to me Ceramic guides to work as well.
The rod measures 8' I know thats considered short for a Salt Water Stick but it is my length of choice .
I used 9 guides including the 3 Strippers.
Long story short the rod handles a # 11 line and will cast 100' without double hauling .
The ceramic guides are a smooth as silk and the line flies through them .
They also work great on the retrieve that is just as important with a Salt water Rod.


I liked the way they worked so much I decided to use them on a 6' 3/4 weight Lamiglas fiberglass rod I was building .
They worked great and I was able to compare 2 of Lami rods one with traditional snakes and one with the ceramics.
The ceramics are much smoother and less energy is required to achieve the same distance cast with the ceramics when compared to the traditional snakes.
I am currently building a Scott fiberglass 7'6" and the double footed ceramic inserted guides are going on the rod.
I like them and will use all I have and look for a source for more before these run out.


Last summer I built a rod with the single foots and I hated it.
Tom purchased the rod it was a donation sale to the site.
The reason I went with them was because of all the folks here were saying how much they liked them and it was built to donate to this site so I went with popular opinion.
At the Clave Tom mentioned how he really didn't like the rod !
I think it's the single foot guides .


I will post some photo's later of the rods I built with these double foot ceramic inserted snakes and you can see them for yourself.

Tight Lines and Double Footed Loops
AndY M

Hello
I am not surprised that you never saw these guides in after 30 years of professional rod building I only saw these for the first time last winter.

Forgive my photo quality.
When I return to the bench Monday morning I will get more photo's some of the guides on the rod I am currently building also of some loose guides themselves .

As far as seeing these for the first time.
For myself that's really not all that surprising as I am an old school type and have a tendency to stay with proven products that I have a history with.

Another quick side bar I did a weight comparison when I decided to use these guides for the Lami the traditional snakes weighed in a average of 5 Grains and the Ceramics at 6 Grains.










The Photo's of my Salt Water rod came out really bad so I will shoot more and add them when I get some time.







Tight Lines and Ceramic Loops
Andy M

Hello Larry
I must be a mind reader I had added the weight comparison as an after thought I must have been typing the same time you were.
Tight Lines and Mind Readers Loops
Andy M