Guides for a Richardson Casting Rod

[Terry Battisti]

I recently acquired a 4-ft, 4-in Richardson casting rod and the guides are off and one is missing. It had three guides originally and they appear to be chrome plated. They are definitely not carbaloy. I have attached an image of the two guides that came with the rod and they measure out at 5.5 mm (14/64 inch) inside diameter. I'm not sure if the stripper guide is missing, which I assume would be one size bigger, or if all the guides were the same size. All the wraps are the same so it looks like the same size guide was placed on the entire rod.

Anyway, I was wondering if anyone had a lead on a new guide or a set of three carbaloy guides that would go with this rod? I have a set of NEW Aetna Foulproof guides for a spinning rod if anyone wants to trade.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Terry

[Paul Roberts]

Tough one. I've recently "restored"/refurbished a few old glass casting rods, and built a couple more. Vintage style guides I did not find, esp Carboloy, on the rod building sites. Luckily I only needed to replace one guide, and luckily again I had one in my rod building stuff. The others I simply buffed the inner ring, leaving the existing "patina"/corrosion. Kinda liked the look for those particular rods. For the new builds I ended up using SS304 guides and a ceramic tip.

Best bet may be hitting old tackle shows, flea markets, and thrift stores for old glass rods. They can be darn cheap since few people want them. I picked up a 5ft solid glass Actionrod for 97cents and just buffed out the existing guides. Guide quality though on many old glass rods may not be what you are after.

My 97cent Actionrod:


Buffed out rings and original "patina":

[Terry Battisti]

Paul,

Thank you for posting this. I really like your idea to buff out only the inside of the guide leaving the patina on the rest. Wicked smart. I will do that on this rod.

I spent a good portion of yesterday looking online for "period" guides and found a seller on eBay that carries an amazing supply of old guides, all new old stock. I ordered some old fly rod stripper guides from him that looked to be a match but thinking I'd replace all the guides but now I'm thinking about that.......

If you're interested in that seller, you can find him here: https://www.ebay.com/usr/jbbowers12012

Thanks again Paul.

Terry

[Paul Roberts]

Thanks for the seller, Terry.

Good luck on your project.