Guides don't effect casting distance as much as you may think. They are there to allow the blank to bend in a pattern as close to a no guide blank under tension as you can get. Guides that set as low to the blank as the Fuji BLAG require more guides to keep the line off the blank under tension, there is little real bend in the blank during the actual cast. The level wind reel already put the line through a guide on the level wind mechanism as small or smaller than any guide on the rod.