Based upon a recommendation, the first guides I ever used were Snake Brand original snake guides.  They worked great and not knowing any better I tried just about every other snake guide available on later rods to try and save a dollar.  In the end, however, today I have gone back to Snake Brand guides and now use them exclusively on all of my builds, bamboo, fiberglass, and graphite.  For graphite and fiberglass rods the Snake Brand Universal Guides are second to none.  You can find my review of the Universal Guides here: Snake Brand: Universal Guide Review.  


Snake Brand Original guides feature a flat foot that is perfectly tapered and rarely require any prep work before wrapping.  Out of a selection of 120 guides I only found two that required a quick touch up with a file before being wrapped.  Unlike the Universal guides the Original snake guides feature a flat foot that is perfectly match for working with bamboo.  I have used them on graphite blanks as well, but with the advent of the Universal guide I now try and stick to bamboo for the Original guides.  The guides themselves come in a nice range of sizes 2/0-6 and are offered in chrome, black, and bronze finishes.  The wire thickness falls somewhere between a light wire and heavy wire, which I have used on an 8wt. bamboo spey rod all the way down to a 3wt. 6' small stream rod.  Having spent a fair amount of time looking into guides for a wide range of builds I really appreciate the versatility of Snake Brand guides.  No more looking for "light" or "heavy" guides anymore.


You can find Snake Brand original guides at a number of rod building supply houses or you can buy direct at: Snake Brand Guides.