Abu fans

[bulldog1935]

On 7/15/2023 at 11:21 PM, redmeansdistortion said:

Some Ambassadeurs are still in fact made in Sweden; the 4000 through 6000 sizes bearing the C, C3, C4, and CS nomenclature are manufactured in Svangsta.  The S, SX, and BCX variants are made in China and are very much inferior to what's made in Sweden.  While they appear similar to the Swedish reels on the outside, they are far different under the hood.  The 7000 reels with the exception of the 7000C Compact are now made in Taiwan and are just as reliable as their former Swedish made counterparts from what I've seen thus far.  They still put out a lot of true gems but we simply don't get them here due to market demands on our side of the world.

Thanks for taking off the blinders (at least for most people).  

The USM dictated the China-made reels when they relegated round reels to cheap nostalgia niche.  (the soapbox is worn through)

I'm sure the China reels were never sold in Japan, UK and EU.  

As our friend pointed out previously, Japan remains the prime market for Abu round reels, closely followed by Europe and Britain.  

 

Noteworthy, Tica has made reels in Taiwan since 1960 beginning with offshore (currently make Daiwa that's not made on Japan bench), and 80s inflation forced the Japan bicycle industry to move to Taiwan - most everything mechanically techy today comes from Taiwan.  

[bulldog1935]

Throwing up a show and tell from a friend's recent score.  

'78 4600C, near mint, and replaced a reel just like it that he grew up with.  

Good follow up discussion on his FFR thread.  

https://fiberglassflyrodders.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=76370&view=unread#p425207

From my tinkering, this age is the best low-inertia Ambassadeur configuration period,  with simply a spool swap.  

I also referenced this priority list from Jun Sonada, rating the effectiveness of possible upgrades to all Ambassadeurs.  

https://japantackle.com/Tackle_topics/abu_tuneup.htm

[redmeansdistortion]

On 7/18/2023 at 9:03 AM, bulldog1935 said:

Thanks for taking off the blinders (at least for most people).  

The USM dictated the China-made reels when they relegated round reels to cheap nostalgia niche.  (the soapbox is worn through)

I'm sure the China reels were never sold in Japan, UK and EU.  

As our friend pointed out previously, Japan remains the prime market for Abu round reels, closely followed by Europe and Britain. 

Browsing the Pure Fishing sites of Japan and Europe, there are no Chinese Ambassadeurs offered in those markets.  Similarly, the Daiwa Millionaire sold here versus Japan and Europe is a completely different animal as well.  The closest we had to the JDM Millionaire was the TD Luna, but it was taken off the market due to slow sales along with the Ryoga.  Other than those, we had the CV-Z and CV-X back 20 years ago.  Back to Ambassadeurs, there are shops in Europe and Japan that deal exclusively in those whether it's sales or service.  Some of those guys charge handsomely for their tuning expertise as well.  Casket and Goober Reel Works come to mind on that end.  The aftermarket in general is so full of Ambassadeur parts that these reels will be in service for many more years to come.  Whether one likes it or not, it's the reel that ushered in everything we have now.  Most of the patents ABU held in the middle 20th century relegated competitors to producing knuckle busters.  Once those expired, it opened the floodgates for competitors to adopt the same basic design which is still used in every baitcast reel to this day.  The only other reel with that sort of influence is the Lew's BB-1 with its disengaging level wind which today we find in most every smaller round and low profile reel presently made.    

[bulldog1935]

Yes, we can call these ubiquitous patents "paradigm design changes"

Ambassadeur freespool, centrifugal brake, and drag that slips main gear.  

Lew's Speed Spool "un-synchronizing" freespool from level wind.  

Most people here have never seen a reel without these.  

There was one older, Marhoff's level wind patent, 1909 - still on every baitcast reel made today (except, of course NLW).  Patent rights expired in 1928, then Marhoff LW showed up on every reel made after, here a Meek 30 (very nice benchmade Marhoff copy made up to 1941).  

(I still say Daiwa MagForce patent will be just as ubiquitous) 

 

[bulldog1935]

Mike and his son have been nailing walleye - this just in

 

 

 

Where are all those other Ambassadeur photos?

[redmeansdistortion]

[bulldog1935]

@FishTank

I received Minicast just like it when I was 19 - Christmas present.  

Following May, I landed a 6-1/2-lb bass on it - my dad was freaking - get it in the boat.  

I fished through the reel on white bass.  One night that summer on a lighted tee-pier on Lake LBJ, I caught one every third cast, casting out 1/16 oz Panther Martin, sitting down to let the whole line sink, and exactly following their path up the sandy cove bottom to the dock light.  They were sweeping through the light to feed and running back to the cooler deep water.  Others on the dock ran to the bait shop in town and came back with spinners, but I was the only one who caught fish - 17 on my stringer.  Made a fish fry for all the neighbors (nothing beats my mom's hush puppies).  

 

(and to make this on topic, my favorite Ambassadeur)

[FishTank]

36 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

@FishTank

I received Minicast just like it when I was 19 - Christmas present.  

Following May, I landed a 6-1/2-lb bass on it - my dad was freaking - get it in the boat.  

I fished through the reel on white bass.  One night that summer on a lighted tee-pier on Lake LBJ, I caught one every third cast, casting out 1/16 oz Panther Martin, sitting down to let the whole line sink, and exactly following their path up the sandy cove bottom to the dock light.  They were sweeping through the light to feed and running back to the cooler deep water.  Others on the dock ran to the bait shop in town and came back with spinners, but I was the only one who caught fish - 17 on my stringer.  Made a fish fry for all the neighbors (nothing beats my mom's hush puppies).  

 

(and to make this on topic, my favorite Ambassadeur)

I can't explain it but what I posted above somehow got to this thread. It was supposed to go to the BFS=UL thread you started but no big deal. 

 

Always love the old Abu reels though. 

[bulldog1935]

@FishTank if you want friend, you can edit, select all, copy (don't put cursor on a photo, but text) and paste it into a new post on that thread.  

I'll do the same with my fish story, and use the same example for para rod taper - pocket rocket.  

The little rod is really a stunning light-lure distance caster, without any backbone to turn a fish.  For some reason, the Japanese call this taper "sticky"

https://fiberglassflyrodders.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=39448&p=424472&hilit=sticky#p424472

[FishTank]

24 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

@FishTank if you want friend, you can edit, select all, copy (don't put cursor on a photo, but text) and paste it into a new post on that thread.  

I'll do the same with my fish story, and use the same example for para rod taper - pocket rocket.  

The little rod is really a stunning light-lure distance caster, without any backbone to turn a fish.  For some reason, the Japanese call this taper "sticky"

https://fiberglassflyrodders.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=39448&p=424472&hilit=sticky#p424472

Cool. Thanks for the tip.

 

I have heard the term "sticky" with fly rods but again didn't know the the context.  Thanks