Who among us when we get to the water are not in a big hurry to get that rod put together?  Me for one and I tend to be all thumbs at that point. Most of my rods did not come with alignment dots so that problem was solved with some yellow nail polish and hard as nails clear polish to protect the dot. I use a pointed toothpick with a small piece clipped off to get the dot size you want. The dots last for years and if knocked off, easy to replace.

Frank Church
Fremont, IN

I finally got a rod with alignment dots and . . . the second section is off when the dots are aligned. It absolutely kills me; I was so excited, too, to have that insignificant little feature and then--just poop. So, I'll probably use your method and correct it. Thanks for the suggestion.

I got a pearow rod, he snuck dots on. I just noticed them last time out. Usually assembly rods guides down so how was I to know???

Tiger Eye 4wt if you were wondering.

I just use a sharpie!

I just use the nearest guide feet. Many times alignment dots aren't aligned, anyway--your eye will naturally align the guides better if you sight down the feet lengthwise than by putting two little round dots next to each other--now, if they were alignment lines . . . .
CC

I only have one rod with dots and don't really seen the point?
I just look at the tip section, rotate untill its in the middle of the guides, then twist the new section till it's the same.
Of course align everyting to the same section, way more accurate than dots.

Regards,
Ken

I have rods with dots and rods without dots. It seems the ones with dots are not always correct. I just start at the tip and line up the guides....but I screw up that sometimes too....maybe my eyeballs and brain needs alignment dots.