bulldog1935

Over the weekend, rec'd FedEx e-mail that my current parts order from Hedgehog was stalled in Anchorage US Customs and needed additional documentation - I simply copied their tracking statement, and pasted it in the Hedgehog contact form: Description provided is insufficient to classify commodity. Recommended action: Shipper or Importer must provide a more detailed description of goods. It's first thing Monday morning in Tokyo, and I just received this e-mail from Hedgehog: Thank you for your inquiry regarding your order... We would like to inform you that we have completed the necessary customs updates for tracking number ......... via the FedEx system. We have provided detailed classification data to ensure your package clears U.S. Customs as smoothly and quickly as possible. The shipment should resume its movement shortly. Please continue to monitor the progress of package ........ on the FedEx website. Thank you for your patience. Best regards, J Kato ____________ Editing in final outcome. After 2 more days and no tracking change, I called FedEx customer service. They were very helpful, and transferred my call all the way to Anchorage. They couldn't identify specific missing information, but did take my contact information in case something came up. I suspect the delay was mostly about Memphis winter storm. Received customs clearance and delivery tomorrow notifications this morning.

@Fishingmickey absolutely, I do it all the time. When you go back to TD-Z and older, confirmed in direct communication w/ Jun Sonada, they don't have strong-enough magnets for SV Boost, except maybe over a very narrow weight range. But newer reels all have the same magnets on MagZ and SV - the difference is in the inductors for picking weight range, e.g, SV will fish 1/8 oz, MagZ starts at 1/4 oz and will fish well over 1 oz.

Broken up across this one thread covers MagZ, SV and Boost, along with aftermarket Ray's SV and fixed-inductor BFS

If you look at my photos above, both Avail STi2 + Avail A knobs, and Studio Composite giant carbon-tube knobs are lighter than stock handles and, especially, stock rubber I-knobs.

That answer looks like a Yes to me.

Scotty, my only full-carbon 2-hand butt had a traction finish, but it wasn't enough. I also didn't like the quality of EVA on the China rod - I added X-shrink over the EVA, and a band at the front of the grip. This is the rod that was casting 1/4-oz plug to 200' for me last spring.

Answer to OP trick question: Yes.

Beats me, Jun Sonada has the exact same write up for both reels with one difference - Shallow Spool for Lite. Photo shows silver trim on Lite vs. Gunmetal trim on '24 However, he lists the same capacity for both reels. https://japantackle.com/casting-reels/daiwa/reg0000347.html https://japantackle.com/casting-reels/daiwa/reg0000364.html '24 Steez is $50 cheaper. Maybe the difference is the new price.

@Big Hands nope, Travel west across the International Date Line, and the day/date is tomorrow - travel east from Japan, and it's yesterday. The transit events are always listed by date and time, and on the list it looks like things that happened east of the date line happened a day before events on the west side of the date line, even though they followed in real time. Anyway, it makes you want to drink a beer and think about it some more. Noon on a day/date here is 2am the following day/date in Tokyo. There's a toggle on FedEx where you can show every event by your local date/time, vs. the package local date/time.

Another datapoint, and reason to avoid importing through UPS. I received through mail an unpaid invoice dated Jan 2 for a duty + brokerage that I paid online on Dec 15. After an hour hold time with my speaker phone playing really bad muzak, a woman from subcontinent Asia told me that I don't have to pay the invoice, and my payment from Dec 15 will be applied to my account within four days. This is different from each previous UPS import, where I received a paid/zero-balance invoice by mail.

No offense, the wipe is probably not necessary - low viscosity oil wets, and centrifugal use will wipe the oil film everywhere it needs to go. Kinda reiterating @redmeansdistortion , you don't want centrifugal gunked with oil, but the minimum film to do the job.

I stack braids all the time - leftover pieces to fill a spool to working line. The smart thing is having the stronger braid deeper in the stack in case you get that long run. Double-uni works great for joining braid to braid.

@FrnkNsteen adding PS - When I bought my used CV-Z, the previous owner had completely stripped this PH1-M2.5 trying to get inside. It was still sealed with Daiwa's factory Blue loctite, and an EZ-out wouldn't remove it. I used a jeweler's hammer on a PH2 bit to make a new bite, and it came out with a well-fit PH1 bit on my T-handle wrench. I replaced every M2.5 on the reel with socket (hex) flat-head, and Purple loctite. Here, I tapped the frame drain hole for M2.5 to add my favorite G-Nius hook keeper with socket-button-head If you ever need fasteners, Bolt Depot sells piecemeal and ships 1st class mail - cost is tiny fraction of a McMaster order.

@FrnkNsteen Loctite 222 Purple Low Strength Thread Locker Purple is definitely the low-strength for micro screw sizes. Blue is too strong for anything smaller than M3. The only place I use Red is a joint I want to Never come apart, such as IOS handle adapter - that is, it will come apart but it's not easy.

Also, if you use threadlocker on anything that small, use Purple, or you'll strip it next time you try to remove it. https://www.amazon.com/Loctite-38653-Purple-Strength-Thread/dp/B0002KKTT0/ref=sr_1_4?crid=1NEHR5378IW8V OG Daiwa is bad about using blue loctite on tiny Phillips screws.

Never found the need for one - I can always feel drag pay through the rod, and can't hear a clicker in coast wind. When I rebuilt my (bought salt-used) '18 Ryoga with new MagSeal bearings and Basara gearset, that removed the stock drag clicker.

The smallest I've ever seen or needed is 1.3-mm Hex. I have this tool in 1.3, but note, they offer 4 smaller metric Hex sizes, down to 0.5-mm. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003ES5MDU?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_6&th=1 fwiw, 1.5-mm is the smallest Daiwa uses: https://japantackle.com/tools-and-others/tog0000048.html I checked my bit-set, it only goes down to 1.5 mm Hex. Wiha sells a really nice bit set + handle that includes 1.3 and 0.9 mm https://www.amazon.com/Wiha-75958-Piece-GoBox-Precision/dp/B0BLWJW8WH/ref=sr_1_34 Unfortunately, separate bits they only sell down to 1.5 mm

Topping an old thread because I'm tuning surf Ambassadeurs for a pompano trip next month - when the weather cooperates. If you read old Ambassadeur and Lew's owners manuals, both tell you to put a drop of oil on the centrifugal race, and on the centrifugal pins behind the shoes. Answers to the contrary are incorrect. @FishTank nailed it above, and there's a very important method to what others think is madness. I'll be taking three C3 variants (and one more backup), from surf-microjig for catching cut bait, surf-lure, and staking surf-meat (siamese pompano + redfish rig). My Ambassadeur CTs and CS Rocket all have fixed internal mag brake, but they also have my favorite 6-pin centrifugal drag washer - no pins engaged on the microjig, two pins engaged on the surf-lure, and all six engaged on the 4-oz-meat reel. The oil film on the centrifugal pin and inside the shoe creates surface tension, which acts like a spring to fully retract the centrifugal shoes when they're not needed after spool start.

@KP Duty My Valleyhill Hard Rockfish has an adjustable balance-weight system. The weights are threaded to the stud. I don't think it's as much having a preference as it is having no preference. Rod balance is more important than grip composition. This carbon-butt salt BF, with added X-shrink traction band, will two-hand cast into next month.

My bud who ties FG knots acts like an Iconoclast over it. (same with shaving with bar soap suds) I don't care, and don't need to - been rolling Allbright knots and shooting them through fly rod snake guides for 35 years. They've never let me down.

Stradic, Vanford, Vanquish and Stella are all the same reel, within a Stella series, e.g., '18 Stella, '22 Stella. There are MOC upgrades across the worm-drive line. Stella has more ball bearings, e.g., on each end of the worm gear, spool BB (questionable value), all-metal (formed magnesium) body and rotor, titanium bail, stainless gears, which will literally never wear out, and improve with use. Moving down the series, Twin Power is Stella with formed aluminum body and rotor, anodized alloy gears, Vanquish has formed magnesium body and lightened CI4+ rotor, Vanford has the fewer BB, alloy bail, CI4+ body and Vanquish rotor, Stradic has formed alloy body and beefed-up CI4+ rotor. Again, these reels are all the identical design, and parts inerchange within the Stella series - any reel in Shimano worm-drive series counts as the latest and greatest. I've said more than once, spinning reel wasn't designed before the last decade - it was made by trial and mostly error, and self-destructs with normal use. What you pay for in spinning reel is a longer life while maintaining accurate line management. Eventually, every one will lose this ability - reverse-cone line lay is end of life.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. Shimano hasn't made any significant changes to their worm-drive spinning reels since 2018 - and for good reason - their design culminated a decade of applying needed computer stress modeling to the basic design. '26 Ryoga was last offered as '18 Ryoga - the only change is the same gearing change offered in '20, and SV spool in place of MagZ. I used the example of '32-mm Daiwa Steez on purpose. Floating-spool Daiwa has been swapping '34-mm spool since 2005. New Steez was given the appearance of making 2 decades of previous Daiwa obsolete. While changes gradually improve the product, their main goal is to cut the unit manufacturing cost to stay competitive in the market. Marketing to N+1 buyers is the universal tool across the tackle industry, fly rods, fly reels (how can you get more simple) and even in bicycles (if you want expensive +1). The marketing technique they're taught in school is shamelessly identified as The Snow Job - the only way you can sell this year's new model to N+1 buyer is convince him last year's model is obsolete..

You left off the part of the marking that gets my attention. Here's the marking on my pre-Shimano GL2

Just this. Otherwise, I'm with you. I did add a Zillion last, but , e.g. new Steez, I have no use for a 32-mm Daiwa.

A couple of extremes in weight, and both very useful in their niches.