Ambassadeur reels - anyone still use these, should I keep mine or sell for modern reel?

[MAN]

I'm buying them as quickly as I financially can! 

 

I don't own any with the plastic thumb bar though.  To me that seems like a given weak point.  Anyone have bad luck with the plastic thumb bars?  

[TnRiver46]

38 minutes ago, MAN said:

I'm buying them as quickly as I financially can! 

 

I don't own any with the plastic thumb bar though.  To me that seems like a given weak point.  Anyone have bad luck with the plastic thumb bars?  

You are a smart man. They break and when they do, you need a whole new frame. You can’t just replace the plastic button 

[bulldog1935]

3 hours ago, MAN said:

... Anyone have bad luck with the plastic thumb bars?  

I wouldn't call it bad luck, but the thumb bar design was added as an afterthought.  

In classic marketing form (sell your weak points) they call it FC for "fast cast"

It works, but you have to finagle it about half the time - rock the spool with your thumb to get the clutch to disengage.  

As I said before, my hands-down favorite Ambassadeur tuning result is '77 4500C -

- I liked this enough to build a 2nd one.  

Avail AMB-4550R-EF spool will fish PE#1 (200 m) to PE#3 (55-lb), or mono to 14-lb

Thumb caps on both sides, adding/subtracting bronze shims, also let you center the spool, which makes a difference w/ fine braid.    

 

Since I'm still here, there's a couple of schools on the forum.  One is get rid of them, or keep them fishing as an option while recognizing there are better newer reels to use instead.  

The second is fish them because they'll keep fishing as long as you want, and then can hand down to the next generation.  @MAN, @redmeansdistortion, and I fit a subset of this group.  Recognize as the Japanese did 40 years ago that you can improve these reels, fish them peerlessly, and they'll always be worth what you put into them.  

[Recurve1]

Thanks for all of your thoughts.  I've decided to keep one and sell one.

Any thoughts on which to keep?

Any thoughts on fair value for the one to sell? Both are in very good condition and have seen little use.

 

Thanks again.

[bulldog1935]

The Royal Express has the advantage of high-speed gears.  

Note that both are C3 drive, and all the parts interchange.  

Both also take this Avail spool, which has the same line capacity as the EF spool I posted above.  

The spool swap is simple - move everything from your stock spool to the upgrade spool.  This is also a good time to upgrade your spool bearings (1040 size)

 

 

@redmeansdistortion mentioned the plastic worm gear sleeve on Royal Express.  If upgrading the LW to ball-bearing is in your sights, the new worm drive comes with a metal sleeve - you can also order it with the alloy rider and zirconia pawl.  

https://www.mikesreelrepair.com/abu-dual-bearing-worm-kit-4000-6000/

if you go this route, I recommend replacing the idler with BB also

https://www.mikesreelrepair.com/reel-tuning-upgrades/wormshaft-upgrades/

My Royal Express below also has Avail mag brake, which you would want mainly for casting UL to 1/8-oz lures - not all upgrades are necessary.  

Consider if you make the LW upgrades, you have a reel that performs as well as the $500 Factory Tuned bench reels.  

[Bankbeater]

Hold onto them, especially if they are the ones made in Sweden.  The dumbest thing I ever did was sell my dad's Ambassadeur reels from the late 70's early 80's.

[Maxximus Redneckus]

On 5/30/2024 at 11:35 AM, TnRiver46 said:

You are a smart man. They break and when they do, you need a whole new frame. You can’t just replace the plastic button 

Never broke one myself but ive seen them  broken i own about 100 of them...you can replace them if it brakes though just pull out the cross bar with a pair of pliars and turn ..i had one that was loose so i experimented ..and a little glue it was fixed..

[TnRiver46]

2 minutes ago, Maxximus Redneckus said:

Never broke one myself but ive seen them  broken i own about 100 of them...you can replace them if it brakes though just pull out the cross bar with a pair of pliars and turn ..i had one that was loose so i experimented ..and a little glue it was fixed..

But where do you get the replacement thumb button? All the ones I’ve seen are connected to a frame and $40 + (which I usually get a whole reel for that or less ) 

[Maxximus Redneckus]

2 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

But where do you get the replacement thumb button? All the ones I’ve seen are connected to a frame and $40 + (which I usually get a whole reel for that or less ) 

That part i dont know lol the cross bar was pushed way in it was hitting  inside i was about to trash it and neeedle nose to rescue..pulled it out filled hole with glue it worked..btw all thumb to buttons are plastic the abu ones are way more sturdy then a lotta the low pros which i have seen broken..