I had these custom-made by a local machinist friend of mine for a rod project. I had him make some extra sets to try and keep the cost/per set within reason. They still ended up being a bit pricey, but he did an outstanding job of duplicating the heaviest and largest set of original Kovalovsky guides I could find. These are made of 3/16th diameter stainless steel rod, so they are BEEFY. Inside diameter of rings are 5/16th's. To bend this size SS rod into two rings of this diameter accounting for spring-back/spread, get all the associated angles and lengths of feet just right, and finish with a final polish was no cake-walk. R&D involved making his own tooling to bend the rod, and a lot of trial and error. There are 5 guides per set, three different sizes per set. Cost per set is $200. When my extra sets are gone, there won't be anymore made. After this project, my friend won't even answer my phone calls!
As a comparison, the last picture is an original Kov' guide.
Cheers,
John
Kovalovsky-Style Guides For sale
- Deepfins791
- Advanced Board Poster
- Posts: 311
- Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2012 4:37 pm
- Contact: