Line guide is groovy

[Ratherbfishing]

I have fished a Pflueger president rod for about 3 years now and have never used anything besides Yo-zuri line with it.  This past weekend I noticed that there are 4 or 5 distinct groves in it.  I have heard that braided line can do this to guides but not other types of lines (fluorocarbon, nylon, or hybrids) .  Is this common?

Anyway, I need to replace the tip with a new guide.  Are there any  new tips (pun intended) for removing the old tip?  I reckon I'll try a lighter to heat it up and pull it off but is this advisable on factory glued tip?

[Delaware Valley Tackle]

What braid? In what conditions ? Modern braid and guides should be compatible for the most part. It's actually the debris picked up by the line that's abrasive. 

[.ghoti.]

Where are you in Illinois. bring it to me. I'll fix it for a cup of starbucks.

[S Hovanec]

All lines will collect contaminates from the water and wear steel ringed guides.  The best tip I can give is when you LIGHTLY heat the old tip, DO NOT twist the guide when pulling it off.

[spoonplugger1]

S Hovnac has it right, I put tension on the tip with one of the baby bungee cords that way I don't add more heat than necessary to remove the tip, doesn't take much tension for the tip to pop off, can use a rubber band if you isolate the band from the hot tip with a piece of string or something. Tip will come off at around 150 degrees, 30 degree more is about all you have before tip failure gets to be a concern.

[J Francho]

Rubber band works too, for pulling it off.

[.ghoti.]

Rubber band and a bent out paper clip. Pull it straight off. Don't twist.

 

[S Hovanec]

13 minutes ago, .ghoti. said:

Rubber band and a bent out paper clip. Pull it straight off. Don't twist.

 

You beat me to it.

[.ghoti.]

7 minutes ago, S Hovanec said:

You beat me to it.

Well, that would be a first.

[S Hovanec]

I'm at work and have to sneak peeks at the boards through the day.

[J Francho]

7 minutes ago, S Hovanec said:

I'm at work and have to sneak peeks at the boards through the day.

Does "he" even know you have the internet loaded?

[Batson]

Most modern guides are braid resistant so you shouldn’t have a problem with that. But some factory rods use cheap guides that have low end materials for inserts, if so then yeah braid would cause the problem (as well as noted, other contaminants).

But as said it’s easy to replace a guide or tip top.

[Ratherbfishing]

I was surprised to see so MANY grooves. One or two, maybe, but 4 or 5?  Crazy man!  Anyhow, Yo-zuri hybrid is not a braid and I'm really surprised that it would be so rough BUT after enough use and abrasion on cheap materials and anything is possible.

I assume the rubber band and or mini-bungee cord is so you don't have to risk burning your fingers while tugging on the line?

[S Hovanec]

2 hours ago, J Francho said:

Does "he" even know you have the internet loaded?

Possibly.   I just don't wanna get caught on my phone all day.

1 hour ago, Ratherbfishing said:

I was surprised to see so MANY grooves. One or two, maybe, but 4 or 5? 

Worst tip i ever encountered.  Abu Villain.

Not just tips groove either.  Fenwick with SS304 guides.

Stripper.

Transition. 

[MickD]

22 hours ago, Ratherbfishing said:

I was surprised to see so MANY grooves. One or two, maybe, but 4 or 5?  Crazy man!  Anyhow, Yo-zuri hybrid is not a braid and I'm really surprised that it would be so rough BUT after enough use and abrasion on cheap materials and anything is possible.

I assume the rubber band and or mini-bungee cord is so you don't have to risk burning your fingers while tugging on the line?

Yes, that technique ensures that you use no more heat than necessary.  In the event epoxy was used, you have to be very careful because just a little heat will not loosen the tip top.  In that case, if it doesn't come right off with just a little heat, take it to Ghoti and have him do it.  Less risk.

I'm curious about your post, and whether I'm interpreting it correctly.  Do you have multiple guides that are grooved, or just a tiptop with a lot of grooves?  If the guides are grooving, they really must be junk, so is the blank also junk?  If so, maybe you're better off with a new, better, rod.  If just the tiptop, then a simple replacement of that will do fine.  It's not that unusual.  Use a premium tiptop, not another cheapie.

My point is that it is unusual to have grooving in the guides, but not in the tiptop.

[Ratherbfishing]

13 minutes ago, MickD said:

Yes, that technique ensures that you use no more heat than necessary.  In the event epoxy was used, you have to be very careful because just a little heat will not loosen the tip top.  In that case, if it doesn't come right off with just a little heat, take it to Ghoti and have him do it.  Less risk.

I'm curious about your post, and whether I'm interpreting it correctly.  Do you have multiple guides that are grooved, or just a tiptop with a lot of grooves?  If the guides are grooving, they really must be junk, so is the blank also junk?  If so, maybe you're better off with a new, better, rod.  If just the tiptop, then a simple replacement of that will do fine.  It's not that unusual.  Use a premium tiptop, not another cheapie.

My point is that it is unusual to have grooving in the guides, but not in the tiptop

No, it's just the tip guide.  The other guides are ceramic but the tip guide was metal.  I say "was" because I was successful in removing it last eve.  It's a Pflueger rod and it has provided good service otherwise so I'd like to save it.  I was not able to locate my spare guides so it looks like a trip to the store.

[MickD]

9 hours ago, Ratherbfishing said:

No, it's just the tip guide.  The other guides are ceramic but the tip guide was metal.  I say "was" because I was successful in removing it last eve.  It's a Pflueger rod and it has provided good service otherwise so I'd like to save it.  I was not able to locate my spare guides so it looks like a trip to the store.

Hard to believe a rod would be built with ceramic guides and a metal tip top. You may have lost the ceramic ring of the tiptop and not noticed it.  And were fishing on the frame.   Anyway, good that it came off easily, and a new ceramic tiptop should take you a long way into the future of fishing.  On installing the new one, it's best to get a hot melt stick, preferably one designed for rod ferrules (will likely have a higher melt temp), shave off a bunch of slivers into the tube of the new tiptop, and then heat it gently and shove it onto the blank tip.  It should freely rotate for a few seconds, then tighten up as the hot melt solidifies.  Make sure it's aligned as it hardens.

[S Hovanec]

29 minutes ago, MickD said:

Hard to believe a rod would be built with ceramic guides and a metal tip top.

I was thinking the same thing.  You see it the other way all the time and I've been guilty of it too, as much as I hate using metal ringed guides.  When the customer wants them, I insist on a ceramic tip.

[Ratherbfishing]

14 hours ago, MickD said:

Hard to believe a rod would be built with ceramic guides and a metal tip top. You may have lost the ceramic ring of the tiptop and not noticed it.  And were fishing on the frame.   Anyway, good that it came off easily, and a new ceramic tiptop should take you a long way into the future of fishing.  On installing the new one, it's best to get a hot melt stick, preferably one designed for rod ferrules (will likely have a higher melt temp), shave off a bunch of slivers into the tube of the new tiptop, and then heat it gently and shove it onto the blank tip.  It should freely rotate for a few seconds, then tighten up as the hot melt solidifies.  Make sure it's aligned as it hardens.

I looked at it again last night.  It was dark in the room but it appears that the only guide that is ceramic is the one closest to the reel.  The rest, including the tip, were metal.  I'm 99.9 percent sure that the ceramic part had not come off the tip (though I've had that happen before).

[S Hovanec]

3 hours ago, Ratherbfishing said:

I looked at it again last night.  It was dark in the room but it appears that the only guide that is ceramic is the one closest to the reel.

That is even more strange, but I guess possible.  I've hade many W T F were they thinking moments while deconstructing rods for repair.