Fuji's most recent milestone innovation was the development of Concept Guides, which hit the market in 2000. They were designed to complement the company's New Guide Concept, a casting system that calls for high-frame guides with smaller ring diameters at the butt end of the rod, transitioning to a low-frame, single-foot guide near the tip.
Concept Guides conform to those height and weight requirements without sacrificing strength. A rod built under New Guide Concept specifications with Concept Guides will often have two more guides than a similar rod, but the combined weight of all of the Concept Guides will be less than that of the ordinary guides.
The deep-press frame design that fully encases the ceramic ring on Concept Guides provides greater strength and durability and makes the guide nearly immune to having he ring pop out.
The company is now under the leadership of Kazuhito Ohmura – son of the inventor of the ceramic guide and grandson of Fuji's founder – and continues to set the standard by which all other rod components are compared.
