Spiral (or Acid) wrapped casting rods combine the stability and sensitivity of spinning rods, with the hook setting and fish fighting power of casting rods.  In this configuration, the first three guides (double foot guides) will transition the line to the underside of the rod where it remains out to the tip.  In this orientation, single foot guides can often be used in the tip section, resulting in a lighter, more sensitive tip compared to double foot guides used on most commercial rods.

Spiral guide placement is physically the best guide placement for casting rods to minimize stress to the line and rod blank and to maximize sensitivity. 

     -  It eliminates twisting of the rod under load because the guides are on the underside of the blank.
     -  It eliminates side-to-side stress on the guides that occurs with traditional casting rod guide placement.. 
     -  It can allow fewer, smaller, and lower frame guides in the tip section.  This results in greater sensitivity and a crisp feel. 

Contrary to what you might think,  there is no loss in casting distance from a properly built spiral wrapped casting rod.  These are only available from custom builders... Try one and you'll never go back.
Spiral wrapping works great on most bait casting, live bait, jigging, mooching, and trolling rods.  Even surf rods and heavy offshore big game rods can benefit from this guide placement method.

The photos below show how the guides are placed such that, when the rod is stressed, the line only contacts the base or top of the guide ring.  This is an example of a proper spiral guide placement designed for a specific rod and reel... something that you can't get from a mass-produced rod.