wrote in message
ink.net...
Spline finding is above all a stability issue, where the rod will be
stable
under load. With the guides on the bottom of a fly rod and the reel there
also, stability would seem not to be an issue.
Sage, Loomis, etc do not spline their rods, they put their guides on in
such a way as the hide any curve in the blank with the guide placement.
They know that most rods are looked at from the top or the bottom, not
from
the side where you'd notice a blank curve.
There is no sloppy, soft side of a blank. If there was we'd all be in
trouble as the soft and hard sides of a blank's spline are rarely 180 deg.
apart.

Having read all of this carefully, I am struck not so much by the question
of whether your analysis is right or wrong, but rather by the fact that none
of it seems to mean anything at all.

Point 1. "Spline finding is above all a stability issue, where the rod will
be stable under load."

Finding the spine....or spline....is a matter of holding one end of a blank
section at one end and allowing the other to rest on some surface, keeping
it at a shallow angle, and turning it. If one side of the blank is
stiffer.....almost certainly a result of being slightly thicker by virtue of
the process by which blanks are manufactured....there may be a noticeable
change in the downward curvature as the blank is turned. The spine is up
when that curvature is at a minimum. Once the guides are attached, their
weight will swamp the effects of the spine.....or you've got a piece of crap
that should be discarded. None of this holds true for butt sections or, in
multi piece rods, for any of the other thick sections.....they are simply
too stiff for any noticeable effect. A fly rod under load will ALWAYS curve
with the tip toward the line extending from it, which is to say, toward the
load, because of it's inherent flexibility and the fundamental laws of
mechanics. Stability WOULD be an issue IF the rod were rigid and curved
with the tip pointing in any direction other than at the load, but it isn't
and it doesn't, so it isn't.

Point 2. "With the guides on the bottom of a fly rod and the reel there
also, stability would seem not to be an issue."

Assuming that the "bottom" is that side toward the ground when the rod is
held horizontally and when gravity is allowed to do what it does, the reel
and line guides will, of course, always be at the bottom. What any of this
has to do with what a rod does under load.....or with anything else, for
that matter, is a complete mystery. Moreover, if the reel and guides are on
the bottom.....and you seem to be suggesting that they are....and this
negates stability issues, then one is hard pressed to understand why spline
finding (Point 1) matters at all.

Point 3. "Sage, Loomis, etc do not spline their rods,"

Does this mean that they do not put a spline in their rods, or that they do
not bother to find it in the process of attaching components....or what? Is
"Sage, Loomis, etc" meant to indicate inclusion of ALL rod manufacturers or
is this indicative of a distinction of some sort? In other words, do SOME
manufacturers but not others "spline their rods".....whatever that might
mean?

Point 4. "they put their guides on in such a way as the hide any curve in
the blank with the guide placement."

This one is a true gem. I can't even think of a way to frame a question
about what this might possibly mean.

Point 5. "They know that most rods are looked at from the top or the
bottom, not from the side where you'd notice a blank curve."

"Most " rods? Why not ALL rods? And where in God's name would they come up
with the patently absurd notion that people don't look at rods from the
side? Have you EVER seen anyone pick up a fly rod that he or she was
thinking about buying (or examining for any other reason, for that matter)
without turning it this way and that? And if they don't bother to "spline
their rods"....whatever in the world that might mean.....and there is a
curve in the rod, then that curve could, presumably, be in any direction.
Whether or not one could see the curve would indeed depend on which
direction one was looking from, but it could be any direction.....well,
actually, the curvature would be invisible from two diametrically opposed
directions. And, again, if you hold ANY finished fly rod horizontally and
it curves any way but down toward the tip, it is in fact NOT a fly rod. It
is a tomato stake.

Point 6. "There is no sloppy, soft side of a blank. If there was we'd all
be in trouble as the soft and hard sides of a blank's spline are rarely 180
deg. apart.

If there is no soft side of a blank, then how far apart it and the hard side
are would seem to be moot. Moreover, even if it were important, angular
measurements between one thing and nothing are notoriously difficult to do
with any precision. And all of this, of course, doesn't begin to touch on
the knotty problem of how you can even HAVE a hard side......I mean, the
thing about comparative terms is that.....well.....you have to have
something to compare WITH. See what I mean? The HARD side has to be harder
than SOMETHING or else why would we bother to call it hard? And if there's
no SOFT side, then one is pretty much at a loss as to just what it is harder
than.

Wolfgang
who hopes this helps......but won't be holding his breath.