I had a guy fishing with a spinning rig and mono saw my fly line with sink tip in half when i was fighting a fish in the Joss hole a few seasons back.  He lifted a fish just after mine had run down river in front of him.  All he had to do was drop the tip of his rod until I got below him but he lifted up instead.  A quick way to lose a perfectly good line.  

Charlie, back in our rod building hay day we used to tie all of our #5,6,and 7 rods with larger guides all the way to the tip. It does help out tremendously. Never used a silk line. I have a little bamboo rod I should try one on one of these days.

Andy, if you ever build another one for the SR, consider using the REC recoil guides. They are a titanium alloy that acts like spring steel and bends very easily and snaps right back in place. You can flick the guides and the ice breaks right off. They also will allow a knot in your flyline to pass through the guides without damage. Orvis puts them on their top of the line rods, as does Winston. They arer over sized on the 6's and up, too.  As for the Cortland Sylk, I asked a friend who's a bamboo nut in Ca. and he told me they don't coil and are good in the cold. As he's not a stinkin' dirty snagger, and landed many a PNW steelie on big flies, I will give Sylk a try at some point.

I need a new line myself. I totally dislike the wulff triangle line. It freezes up stiff as heck .
I always liked rio steelhead or cortland .
Not sure the sylk is for me.

I love my precision  Cortland salmon /steelhead line it is light green.     They discontinued it and replaced it with precision SL salmon/steel.  I will give it as try next year.

Fichy will do for sure. I've got three sticks that are tied and ready to go for a few years now but have yet to epoxy them and set the corks and reel . one is a #7-10' sage rpl series... I tied that with all over sized guides with steel in mind. I will definitely check those guides out you mentioned for my next venture. Clint I have enjoyed my old Cortland precision salmon and steel taper... My favorite lines are the older house of hardy weight forwards or double tapers... But as most other line companies they have changed the style and image... Luckily my older ones are still in decent shape. I'm definitely interested in trying this sylk line out though