embodiments contemplate a wire guide having three four or more ribs and associated coils the materials used to form the coils and the cross section of wire forming the coils may be chosen to control the flexibility of the coils and hence the flexibility of wire guide 5 the pitch of the coils and the outside dimension of these coils may also be varied so control the flexibility of the coils the presence of the rib allows the flexibility of portions of wire guide 5 distal and proximal of the ribs to be varied independently by varying the flexibility of the coils in various embodiments the axial distance from proximal stop 15 to the center of rib 25 is between 5 and 10 10 and 20 20 and 30 30 and 40 40 and 50 50 and 60 60 and 70 70 and 80 or 80 and 90 of the axial distance between proximal stop 15 and distal stop 20 in one embodiment the thickness of the ribs i e the distance the ribs extends along elongated core member 10 is chosen to reduce or eliminate the impact the presence of the ribs has on the flexibility of wire guide 5 in one embodiment the thickness of at least one of the ribs is less than twice the minimum cross sectional dimension of the.