Ummm.... wait a minute here.... This all seems nice and fine and dandy, but lets look at a few facts.
1) If you apply x amount of pounds of weight to a rod at the tip then that weight is going to be the same regardless of the position of the eye. x pounds still equals x pounds. So if you have a 10 lb fish on the line, that 10 lbs is still the same, no matter if the tip eye is on the top or bottom of the rod.
2) What *can* change is the relationship of the weight to the rod's "backbone". For those that are unfamiliar with the term, let me explain. Anyone that has ever made their own rod knows that all blanks, no matter what they are made of, will have a sweet spot where it flexes better in one direction than in all other directions. If you rotate that blank 180 degrees from that spot you have the rods "backbone" where it flexes the least amount. Depending on what qualities, (what kind of rod) you are trying to build, you will then either place your guides on the side of the rod that has the least amount of flex, or on the side that has the most amount of flex. Thereby creating either a more whippy rod or a stiffer one. This is why, when you go to a place that sells rod blanks, you will see people bending the blanks, trying to find the backbone so they will have an idea of what characteristics the blank has and if it will suit their purposes.
If you start out with your guides on one side at the butt of the rod and finish at the tip with them on the other side of the rod, all you've really done is changed the characteristics of the rod. For example, if you are building a bait caster type of rod and you start out with your guides on the stiff top of the rod, about halfway down the rod you will change the rod from stiff to a little less stiff (more whippy) by the time the line leaves the tip. But the 10 lb fish is still going to weigh and exert 10 lbs of weight on that rod, AT THE TIP.
(And understand, we are not talking a huge amount of difference in rod action. That is controlled by the materials that the rod blank is made of, the wall thickness, the degree of taper of the rod from the butt to the tip, and to some small degree by the type of guides that you are using. But there is *some* difference because of the backbone of the rod).
