The SPINE of a rod !?!!?

[Fish Poison Rods]

I recently posted a question regarding the design theories of Acid wrapped rods. There were five pages of responces which leads me to believe it is a good topic of interest.
One Characteristic that often comes up in conversation is the "Spine of the rod" [Blank mfgs refer to it as spline, however either word works].
What actually is the spine?
What is it that makes the spine?
How does it affect the rods performance, is it Realy nescessary to 'Spine' a rod?
What if its a supposedly a Quality blank, and it is crooked, or snakes near the end? Do you build on the spine?
I have heard it said that some people who build rods dont take the time to spine a rod. Is this realy true?

[Ralph Kuo]

I recently posted a question regarding the design theories of Acid wrapped rods. There were five pages of responces which leads me to believe it is a good topic of interest.
One Characteristic that often comes up in conversation is the "Spine of the rod" [Blank mfgs refer to it as spline, however either word works].
What actually is the spine?
What is it that makes the spine?
How does it affect the rods performance, is it Realy nescessary to 'Spine' a rod?
What if its a supposedly a Quality blank, and it is crooked, or snakes near the end? Do you build on the spine?
I have heard it said that some people who build rods dont take the time to spine a rod. Is this realy true?

Have the blank stand on the floor, and slightly slope it from vertical 90 degree down to 75 degree. and use just forefinger+midfinger together of your left and right hands. have blank lie on your left hand(2 fingers) on the upper half , and press the lower half of the blank with your two fingers of you right hand, and the blank will turn and stop at a certain spot, this is the angle where the spine is. and this angle is where the guides ( for spinning)should sit at !! and is the opposite size for baitcasting guides. Any good rod builder should test and mark the spine before starting to wrap the rod.

Rods wrapped with pretested and re-marked blanks will be well handling the strength to the limit, not every rod needs to be built like this, but once you need just a bit more extra strength to go, this is it.

[Sea Draggin]

At the rod building show here in High Point last year, one builder of offshore trolling rods said he actually builds some of his opposite the spine, to give the rod more stiffness.

[jig42na]

At the rod building show here in High Point last year, one builder of offshore trolling rods said he actually builds some of his opposite the spine, to give the rod more stiffness.

Alot of ustom guys do that. You either build on the spine or 180 degrees off. Never build on the side or off. This is whats making aid wrap popular or one of the reasons. Many factory rods twist because they are built on the "straight side of the blank and ignore the spine. They go for the looks.