Agree with Mike and Mick. A 7’ fast action rod built by me will typically have 9 guides. A 7’ moderate will typically have 8. The extra guide on the fast rod will be in the tip section. Or, to put it another way, the first 18-24” of the fast rod will have the guides a little closer together than the moderate rod.
jimmyjoe, here’s how i do a static load test. I use a piece of fly line about 10’ long, and a piece of 20lb mono. I put the guides on the blank using small pieces of surgical tubing. Starting at the tip, the first few guides are placed about 4 or5 inches apart. I eyeball the rest, placing the stripper guide about 16” in front of the reel seat. I run the fly line through the guides, leaving about a foot extending from the tip. The fly line has 1/16oz weight glued to it. Just enough weight to keep the fly line under a bit of tension, Keeping it straight, but not enough to put any real load on the blank. I use fly line because it is a larger diameter, and is bright yellow, making it easier for my old eyes to see. The mono line is tied to the tip. Use the mono line to apply a load to the rod. Start by flexing only the tip section, then gradually increase the load the put more bend in the blank. Look at the fly line while doing this. Move the guides to make the fly line path match the curve of the blank. You will be moving guides in the tip section when the blank is under a light load. As load increases you will be working on guides further down the blank. Do not use the fly line to flex the blank; use the line tied to the tip. At this point i mount a reel ang go outside for some test casting. This is to get the stripper guides in the best location. If the stripper gets moved very far, i will repeat the static test.
Hope this helps you, and does not scare you off. After you’ve done this a time or three, it gets easy.