I truly wish Edge rods could produce blanks at the rate and quality that GLoomis did, something aloof at Edge..

On topic, deep-dolomite-slot hybrid smallie teased up by cats whisker high-sticked on Teeny line.  The rod is South Bend, the reel, 1925 Ogden Smiths Exchequer.  This older reel is from Bampton, a WH Dingley perfect with collared thrust bearing on the winding plate.  

 

In 1925, JW Young of Redditch also introduced their pattern 2a, and in 1935, OS Exchequer was replaced by the "Improved Pattern" Young reel - with a gang of internal modifications.  

Three OS Exchequers, 1947 postwar Young, 1935 Young, 1925 Dingley.  

There's a great spy story behind the 1935 Exchequer and JW Young Mayfield Works.

This is the 1947 Exchequer, but internally a copy of the 1935 version - palming rim, friction drag, optional click-pawl (i.e., can be disengaged), spool bearings - the modern fly reel in 1935.
It would work better with a thrust bearing, but that wasn't its purpose.  

England began re-arming in preparation for the war in 1934, devised the system of Shadow Factories in 1935, where established factories added a line of armaments production, working with oversight by Military Intelligence.
England began their Aircraft Directive in 1936.
Sometime after 1934, Young Mayfield Works was surreptitiously making aircraft control system parts for Hurricane and later Spitfire fighters.
Ogden Smiths Exchequer Improved Pattern was designed using Hoffmann aircraft control system ball bearings to mask the boxes of bearings that were being delivered to the Mayfield Works well before the war began. 

 

About the bearings - ball bearings were patented in Germany by Hoffmann before WWI.  They built plants in US and England.  In WWI, both countries nationalized the plants, creating Norma-Hoffmann in US.  

On 9/1/2025 at 9:48 AM, ElGuapo928 said:

I like this idea for a thread!! Giving me motivation to crank up the Motley Crue and do something with my 80’s reels that I can’t seem to let go of. 

Definitely. These type threads always deliver great amounts of useful and interesting / informative information in all ways. 

@F14A-B

Did you ever get that Diawa salt 200 baitcaster?? Bearings , bushings?? Just curious...

3 minutes ago, little giant said:

@F14A-B

Did you ever get that Diawa salt 200 baitcaster?? Bearings , bushings?? Just curious...

Yes. Looks to be ceramic encased in a ptfe type of cage best I can tell, a complete tear down is the only other way for me to be certain. However, the reel is an amazing caster. I put on my Evergreen rod glass/carbon 7’3” 

with a 3/4 oz lead weight and a couple adjustments and 6 casts later I was making just shy of a 190 feet. The reel retrieve is excellent, audible line out drag click is useful. The reel could be used w cut bait etc with drag backed off. The same technology’s that are in the Zillion 1000 HD are in this reel. With the exception of the spool of course. It is also very comfortable to palm which surprised me. The fact Daiwa has found a way to put this spool in this frame size is rather shocking to me. I’m going to give a 1/2 ounce lead weight a try and just see. I’m sure it can do it. It’s a keeper for sure . The old models are marked down considerably, but I really wanted the gear set, audible drag out etc that I’m familiar with in the zillion . 

I'll put my GoldWorks skeleton bushings in 5000D up against any full-sized spool bearing.  

I set the mag brake casting 1/8 oz.  

 

"Feature 2" Slitting
Special slitting is applied to the inside of the bushing, significantly reducing the coefficient of friction where the shaft and bush meet.
As a by-product, oil penetrates the slits, dramatically improving oil retention.
"Feature 3" 4-Layer Coating
After slitting, a four-layer special coating is applied in a separate process to repair any unevenness on the metal surface immediately after machining and improve self-lubrication.
Quantity: 2
Material: Brass
Specifications: For Old Abu models only (Bushing-equipped models only)

Here's the 1040 version they make to swap into Ambassadeur C3 and Antares

They report the outer ring as PEEK plastic.  

"Feature 3" Inner Diameter Designed for Each Manufacturer (Model)
This product has a fairly tight fit, so the inner diameter varies by manufacturer (model).
We test it on various actual equipment, install it, and thoroughly test it ourselves. We list the verified model names and manufacturers as compatible models. 

3 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

I'll put my GoldWorks skeleton bushings in 5000D up against any full-sized spool bearing.  

 

 

"Feature 2" Slitting
Special slitting is applied to the inside of the bushing, significantly reducing the coefficient of friction where the shaft and bush meet.
As a by-product, oil penetrates the slits, dramatically improving oil retention.
"Feature 3" 4-Layer Coating
After slitting, a four-layer special coating is applied in a separate process to repair any unevenness on the metal surface immediately after machining and improve self-lubrication.
Quantity: 2
Material: Brass
Specifications: For Old Abu models only (Bushing-equipped models only)

Here's the 1040 version they make to swap into Ambassadeur C3 and Antares

They report the outer ring as PEEK plastic.  

That’s great information and I’m glad to know that. I should size these on my Tat out and order a set.. maybe this winter, by then I’m hopeful the tariff situation has become better understood.. 

Maybe not, appears those might be for ambassador bushing reels only. 

@F14A-B

They haven't gotten there - GoldWorks currently, only offers bushings for bushing Ambassadeur (non-C), Ambassadeur C3 and current 21/23 Antares.  

 

The point is bushings made correctly work extremely well - and it probably takes more detail and development to make bushings work that well, compared to nominal-sized ball bearings.  

5 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

@F14A-B

They haven't gotten there - GoldWorks currently, only offers bushings for bushing Ambassadeur (non-C), Ambassadeur C3 and current 21/23 Antares.  

 

The point is bushings made correctly work extremely well - and it probably takes more detail and development to make bushings work that well, compared to nominal-sized ball bearings.  

Point taken & understood. 

@F14A-B

If you compare sizes, another set of the Daiwa bushings might swap into your Tatula.  

And you never know, Gold Works may be making the Daiwa bushings...

2 minutes ago, bulldog1935 said:

@F14A-B

If you compare sizes, another set of the Daiwa bushings might swap into your Tatula.  

Thanks for the tips, always appreciated. 

@F14A-B

Wow! Ceramic encased ptfe!

Thanks, good to know! I have the older Coastal 200 7.3. I put orange seal ceramic bearings in it and it works great. Mainly use it for Mirrodines and Spooks for reds. Great reel!

 

I just received my 3rd flipping and pitching reel. This is a dedicated reel just for that purpose and no other. And the reason for this is how it is designed to operate is almost one a kind. Only 1 other reel ever made can do what this one does. (That I know of)

 

I am concealing the identity of this one for now just to see if anyone can guess or identify this reel.

 

It is so rare I have seen only 3 or 4 lefties in more than 10 years. You can find more right handed versions, but the lefties are few and far in between. I have to drive across Florida today so I thought I would toss this out there and see if anyone can ID this one while I am traveling.

 

Later on if no one can guess it, I'll identify it and show the insides. It is now probably about 20 years old and was designed by or for one specific professional bass fisherman. And it was only in production for a very short time which is why so few of them exist. I love this reel. It has some nifty bells and whistles you just don't find on other reels. And it was specifically designed for flipping and pitching so I'll leave it at that.

 

And for you Daiwa fans, I think this reel may have "borrowed" something from Daiwa along the way down inside....

 

Glad to have 3 now with my 12 year old son getting back into fishing maybe its time he tried his hand at flipping and pitching. A reel like this makes the work easier even if the reel is heavier with all aluminum frame. The function of this reel does something 99.9% other reels cannot do.

 

This one will get a new swept handle and new metal drag star and ceramic bearings and maybe some new drag washers before use. Definitely a C&L.

 

Can anyone identify this reel? I'd be surprised if it was identified in a few minutes. This one might take a short while. And I have 300 miles to drive counting those white lines.

 

No takers on this old reel huh? The reason I like this old reel for flipping and pitching is because this is a one-handed reel. I can pitch it with one hand and I can reset this reel instantly without having to bring my other hand around to reset it for instant hooksets. Denny Brauer could have changed history if he had a reel like this one in 1985/86. I think this is a 1990's reel.

 

 

It is built kind of like an old Shimano Curado in size and shape. It even uses the same AR the curado does. I think whoever made this reel borrowed some ideas from other reels.

 

 

It also has a ball bearing supported pinion gear. This reel was ahead of the game back then. Curado had to change their reel just do the same thing in the CU200BSF reels which were the first Shimanos I saw with ball bearing supported pinion gear. I am sure others did the same in that era as well, but who did it first I wonder?

 

 

Another thing about this reel I don't think I have ever seen done this way in any other reel is how the drag mech was done. This reel sports a double sided cut out main drive gear and nearly identical drag washers on top and bottom of the gear.

 

With the way this reel's gear is double cut gives a reel tech an ability to really step up the drag in a few different ways. Some fish stopping brake power done this way. More than a Curado. This one is going to get different drag washers. I may even try a triple stack on one and see how it goes.

 

This is the top side of the gear:

 

And the bottom side of main drive gear:

 

Even the Shimano Curado does not have a brake system like this reel does. This one comes with centrifugal brakes and magnetic brakes, but does it resemble anything you may have seen before?

 

 

The centrifugal brakes are hidden in back

 

This is a neat old reel. Built every bit as well as any curado of the same time period. And comes with a few extra gizmos the Curado did not have. Shimano had to step up their game back then to create the BSF model. This one was ahead of them or running neck and neck.

 

Shimano created their own version of a reel like this one called the Castaic. But in my opinion, this one is easier to use and works better.

 

The Shimano Castaic was reviewed years ago and the author had this to say about the Castaic's instant reset ability:

 

"If you’re familiar with a standard casting reel, then you should easily identify the difference on this Castaic.  Instead of a single directional clutch bar, Shimano designed in a bi-directional one.  So rather than stopping the spool with your thumb after completing a cast, you can stop the spool from spinning simply by flipping the clutch bar back to the ‘lock’ position.  More accurately, there is a thumb switch that is located above the clutch bar in which you move your thumb forward to engage the spool to the drive gear.  Shimano calls this “INSTAGAGE”.  With the “instagage” switch, actually stopping the spool instantly is much easier than on a standard casting reel.  For me, I thought this feature would be sort of like training-wheels, getting me ready for a “real” casting reel.

The details: The first nice and surprising feature of this reel is the ‘flip-open’ thumb rest.  I actually didn’t find out about this feature until I had my first major backlash mishap.  The thumb rest easily opens up to fully expose the line guide, making it less of a task untangling nasty backlash and looping the line through the guide.  This feature is really a necessity though since the “instagage” bar takes up about three eights of an inch over the spool."

 

The reel I have keeps the reset button off to the side and does not obstruct the spool in any way. It could not have been better positioned really.

 

Did any of this help anyone to identify this reel?

I guess not. I hope I have this forum stumped on the above reel. One of the few reels designed for flipping and pitching and how ironic the world does not seem to even know it exists! This helps me get them dirt cheap with no one to compete against for buying them. The one above I paid $20 for it. Sweet!

 

These next reels are some pawn shop finds. They are workhorse reels for a lot of people across America. To me they are just easy to fix common reels I can flip all day long and make some spending change. $50 to $60 per reel all day long every day of the week.

 

 

The 4500 on the right was someone's workhorse reel until they broke it. But I'd like to point out that reel comes with an oil port on the main drive shaft. Now I am not sure if this is a good idea or not because the outflow hole for the oil going in from the outside winds up pouring all over the drag washers down inside.

 

I am not so sure this is a good idea because some people seem to think more is better. And this reel was oooozing oil out of it. I guess when more oil does not fix it, its time for selling it to a pawn shop. To access the oil port one has to remove the drive shaft handle nut, and this one was worn out by previous owner. Maybe Abu should reconsider this one?

 

 

Down inside I found why his AR was no longer working. The spring loaded dog was not grabbing the ratchet plate. A quick bend back into shape took care of that. I wonder how his got bent so far out of shape? I wonder if he had gone inside of this reel?

 

 

It has to grab in order for it to work. A quick bend of each side so tips meet or almost meet in the center and this part is back in business.

 

 

But what I wanted to get into with these old Abu round type of reels with soft aluminum side plates is either a design flaw or a materials flaw. Either way, its a deal killer for me for this entire series of reels. Don't get me wrong, I love round reels, but not round reels that come with known problems like these do.

 

And the deal killing problem are those soft aluminum side plates. These reels see a lot of daily use all across America and they wind up getting banged up, dropped, and abused out there. And their soft aluminum side plates bend easily. Too easily.

 

The main problem with this are that the spool bearings are located in the side plates. And when they bend, they can bind up the spool and stop it from spinning or spinning easily. So Abu engineers invented a quick bandaid fixer upper for these reels.

 

Rather than change the materials in the side plates, Abu elected to simply leave the side plates as is and change out the spool bearings to rounded edge bearings that can self adjust in each reel differently according to how its 2 side plates are being bent out of shape.

 

There. Problem solved. Right? Not when your average Joe out there thinks he needs new bearings and replaces them in these reels. When that happens how many of those average Joe's do you think are looking for rounded edge bearings that self adjust in bent reels? Not many. If any at all. So a lot of these reels wind up with flat edged replacement bearings, and the owner wonders why its worse now. They have no clue the critical detail they just missed.

 

I can't tell you how many of these reels I have encountered over the years with this problem. They walk in the front door of the shop and say "It don't work! But I put NEW bearings in it and now its worse!" Gee, I wonder why.

 

Take a look at the Abu quick fix...

 

The 4500's two rounded edge factory bearings are on the outside, and I placed a standard flat edged bearing in the middle just to show the difference a LOT of people miss on these reels and I mean never even notice! Which leads directly to reels binding up with brand new set of bearings installed.

 

 

I used a dental pick to roll the rounded edge factory bearings around in the side plates to show how far these rounded edge bearings can self adjust:

 

 

You can't do that with flat edge bearings. They will not budge. Will not move. So when a soft aluminum side plate is bent with flat edge bearings the reel is toast until repaired correctly.

 

If there was ever a reel to possibly change the side plates to a different material, it would be this entire series of Abu round reels.

 

So for my part, these reels are not reels I would ever use in my collection. I do have round reels, but not reels with this built in "problem" Abu won't fix. These reels I like to repair and resell. Make some pocket change, and keep some of them up and running and back out in the world for daily use.

 

Paid less than $10 in a bundle deal. Should resell for easy $50+ and the profits can help pay for my 12 year old son's new rods and reels. Flip 4 or 5 of these a month and all his tackle is basically free.

 

Just finishing up the still as yet unidentified mystery reel... tossing in a few extra things getting it ready for some Florida styled heavy cover flipping and pitching. I wanted a minimum of 3 of these reels because I have three 40 year old Denny Brauer designed Flipping sticks. One for me, and one for each of my sons. All 3 of us will have the same rods & reels to start out with.

 

Denny Brauer may have set the standard on flipping sticks that is still the standard to this day 40 years later, but his personally designed TEAM DAIWA flipping reel was a complete failure. I bet he would have liked this one though.

 

So I changed out the stainless steel spool bearings and installed full ceramic bearings run dry. And I custom cut some Shimano Dartanium 2 drag washers for it. Now it has incredible braking power as compared to the old commercial pipe gasket cheapo drag washers it came with that were stuck to either the gear or key plates.

 

The Dartaniums will be run dry as well. Shimano patented this material their engineers specifically designed as a braking material, and that's what I wanted in a reel like this one. Fish stopping power. The Dartanium 2 material is a carbon based composite that increases in friction as it is used and surface warms up. Dartanium actually increases stopping power while those cross weave carbon fiber and epoxy fake drag washers actually decrease in friction stopping power as they are used. Those actually tear up and fall apart under loads heavier than largemouth bass.

 

Smooth and smoother means SLIPPING, not increased friction stopping power. Completely backwards for those fake drag washers! That material was NEVER made or designed for brake materials. Its NOT a brake material especially if it slips so much. And since when is smooth more important than fish stopping friction? Try that with your cars! Makes no sense to me! But hey, if it sells and makes millions, who cares right? A no harm situation. Slap some drag grease on those cross weave carbon fiber fake drag washers and make them even smoother, er, slip more.

 

I guess we fishermen should consider ourselves lucky most of the bass are small enough to allow the industry to get away with this sort of thing.

 

In my opinion, this Dartanium 2 material is a superior upgrade- as does Shimano engineers. So to me its kind of funny to read online guys saying they "upgraded" their reels to cross weave carbon fiber fake drag washers by REMOVING the superior Dartanium 2 material. Really? I'll take them!

 

And, for those who install those cheap cross weave carbon drag washers.... how many of you have greased them up and looked at your fingers at all the small black particles falling off of them? Hundreds of small pieces and chunks breaking off as they fall apart in your fingers when just greasing them up. Good stuff huh? When reality hits the wall.

 

They don't even know what they actually did was a downgrade! Misinformation rules the online world!

 

Dartanium 2 is without a doubt one of the best composite materials ever created as a brake material for fishing reels. Cross weave carbon fiber are a fake drag washer and are a downgrade in my world. That's been my opinion on them ever since they started making them. Even Shimano tried to resist using that stuff in their reels for years. Now they just roll with the flow in their cheaper reels which are their highest sellers. I wonder why? Aiming for the average Joe's clearly.

 

What exactly do you think Shimano is telling everyone here by doing it this way? The people who buy those lower end Shimano's should be ticked off if they knew what Shimano was really telling them! Ha!

 

Clearly Shimano and other brands have caved in to popular demand, but ONLY in their cheapest of reels. What does this say about the "buying" market out there? Those buying those low end reels? Shimano is actually calling those misinformed people a name- possibly a perjorative- and I'll leave it at that. Shimano engineers NEVER wanted to cave in. The corporation did for $$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

 

Shimano still uses Dartanium 2 in a number of their high end reels. So it is still in use in their top of the line reels costing $400 and $500 and $800. Then its good enough for my new $20 reel!

 

Here is a brand new Shimano TranX reel priced at $745! And take a look at what is inside:

 

https://fish.shimano.com/en-AU/product/reels/overhead/a071000000oyxyiaar.html

 

"The Tranx's low-slung shape and light weight, thanks to the use of a forged and machined aluminium spool, aluminium frame and side plate, mean it's a pleasure to use. It holds 420 metres of 50lb Power Pro braid, and the Dartanium II drag system can produce 11 kilos of fish-stopping power."

 

Gee. No kidding? 11 kilos of fish stopping power! Reel drag washer patented material everyone hates is still inside Shimano's BEST reels. Imagine that! Then its good enough for my $20 used reel too!

 

But, but, but some GUY online said...... uh huh. Who you gonna listen to? Some guy online who never made a reel in his life? Or, Shimano's top engineers who spent years developing some of the finest reels ever made AND the specialized drag washer material made to go in them? Who you gonna listen to?

 

I asked Shimano engineers to their faces one day about this very situation. And they all laughed in my face and told me instantly "U.S. forums are HOPELESS!" Their exact words. HOPELESS! Hopelessly polluted with misinformation they do not even try to combat. So why should I? Oh well....

 

Wanna tick off shimano? Just try "upgrading" the above $745 reel with cheap fake drag washers and they might send it right back!

 

Can you tell I don't much care for smooth fake brakes? I love Dartanium 2. And when used correctly it is awesome! I do not listen to any of the whiners and complainers found online. If they don't like it that's fine. I will take every single Dartanium 2 drag washer I can find and use them in all my reels, baitcasters, spinning. Does not matter.

 

Just wanted to hammer home this braking point this morning with some high test coffee kicking in... I know, truth hurts.

 

I get a kick out of seeing all the reels with downgraded fake drag washers! Show them off! And then think about what Shimano is really telling you! 😉  😁

 

It don't take an engineering degree to figure this one out! Heck, sometimes even THOSE can't help! I think I will stick with Shimano engineers as I have been for more than 30 plus years. What they SAY goes as far as I am concerned. They have never led me astray yet!

 

 

And today I am playing around with fitting into this one a low friction line guide pawl so the no longer available worm gear does not get worn any. I can replace pawls as needed but the worm gear may not be so easily replaced. Maybe the right handed version would fit into this reel? I might buy a right handed version just to see how many parts are universal in these reels.

 

 

One of the coolest old flipping and pitching reels ever made and I may be the only person using them and definitely may be the only person in the entire country using them with Dartanium 2! And that's AOK with me. Glad to be out of the pack.

 

I may change this handle out again for a longer one... will try as is now and see where it goes. Not too bad for a $20 reel! Heck the spool bearings cost that. I may also play around with different spools down the road since this reel shares similar tooling with other brands. The brakes could be an issue.

 

Who says a decent reel has to cost hundreds? I am still trying to imagine how much different the Denny Brauer 1986 flipping and pitching video would have been if only Denny had had this reel instead of the "unfortunate" DAIWA made reel he had to suffer back then. Other than the reel, that video Denny did was one of the most influential I have ever seen.

 

Its kind of funny to listen to Denny tell us his "technical" requirements for reels while at the same time telling all of us the reel he had back then he did not like how it was designed and he refused to use it as designed and said so live ON CAMERA!

 

A great way to sell a DAIWA reel there Denny! I bet DAIWA chewed him out for that one!

 

Denny Brauer 1986 Flipping & Pitching video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJhbnvjIHSU

 

His flipping switch simply made the thumbar not lock into cast mode. He could push it down and it reset itself automatically, and Denny made it very clear he did NOT like a reel designed like the one he was using back then because his thumb was dedicated to holding down the thumbar to pitch and he could not do that and also feather the spool at the same time. One or the other. This reel here would have given Denny the ability to pitch and feather the spool at the same time and with a slight movement of the thumb (not the entire other arm and hand) Denny could reset the reel instantly.

 

Why would Denny have a reel designed he said on camera he did not like and did not use it BECAUSE of how it was designed? Makes no sense to me. And most reels with a flipping switch are designed like that. I won't use them for the very same reason.

 

But with this reel Denny could have set the hook on the biggest bass in this video all with one hand instantly. No need for 2 hands! He set the hook pretty fast in the video, but this reel would have made it even faster and less work.

 

I wonder why they do not make them like this today? I wonder if I could modify fit something like this into a modern reel? It would be kind of cool if I could use the same lever as this reel to do it too.

 

I think I will take that lever and put it into the auto-cad program and change its shape a little bit and send the new design to a machine shop to make me 3 of these out of solid metal.

 

And I might take a look inside some of my modern reels to see if this lever can be custom installed into any of them? Or, something similar based on each reel's design.

 

 

Not as savy as you on the mechanics of reels but I have been using reels for flipping (in the past) and now pitching for many years ( since the 90's).  I have used the Castaic (first gen) and after the Castaic SF (with modified Instagage) and the Core MGFV.  I believed Shimano modified the original Castaic for fisherman to have a better contact for their thumb on the spool.  Thumbing the spool gave better precision than stopping it with the bar when pitching became popular.  I think flipping switches went away because a lot of people forgot to turn them off when they cast in a regular fashion making them dangerous.  Today most reels can be used in one hand operation because the thumb bar can be raised by simply putting your thumb under it and raising it to engage the reel.  Not a lot of people  use that feature or even know about it. 

Very true! I have increasing arthritis in my finger joints and flipping a thumbar up is tough on me.

 

I NEED that extra easy to use lever! Its awesome! And this is the ONLY reel I have ever seen like it in my lifetime. Only one. If there is another I would sure like to see it.

 

I agree about the Castaic, but the online review even makes mention the Shimano reset lever partially obstructs the spool. I'd like to avoid that even if it is a Shimano.

 

The reel I am showing here meets my body's needs a lot better. But I do agree with you. I just wanted to share other alternatives generally not very well known or even talked about. Around here we tend to see the same old reels reposted over and over and over. Same reel. Different angle. It gets old fast!

 

I cannot understand why one or more brand of reels is not doing this today? If they are I have not found it yet.

 

And now that you have mentioned this, I am going to go check all of my reels and see how many of them are like you pointed out and see how hard my newer reels are to do this on. Thanks for pointing this out again.

28 minutes ago, FloridaFishinFool said:

Very true! I have increasing arthritis in my finger joints and flipping a thumbar up is tough on me.

 

I NEED that extra easy to use lever! Its awesome! And this is the ONLY reel I have ever seen like it in my lifetime. Only one. If there is another I would sure like to see it.

 

I agree about the Castaic, but the online review even makes mention the Shimano reset lever partially obstructs the spool. I'd like to avoid that even if it is a Shimano.

 

The reel I am showing here meets my body's needs a lot better. But I do agree with you. I just wanted to share other alternatives generally not very well known or even talked about.

 

I cannot understand why one or more brand of reels is not doing this today? If they are I have not found it yet.

 

And now that you have mentioned this, I am going to go check all of my reels and see how many of them are like you pointed out and see how hard my newer reels are to do this on. Thanks for pointing this out again.

Daiwa had the lefty flipping frame TD-X that had a switch to operate the clutch and the T3 that has a "flip up hood" that is actually the thumb bar.  Pushing down on the back of hood/thumbar let's you cast and turning through handle or pushing down on the hood while palming engages the reel.  I own both and it's a neat feature for flipping but you can also just use your thumb tip to lift the thumb bar on modern reels, although this can't be done when palming the reel.

 

https://www.tackletour.com/reviewdaiwat3reel.html

The flipping switch works on Lew's - it turns the reel into direct-drive.  

 

^^ what he said^^

@FloridaFishinFool

With flipping switch on, the thumb clutch puts the reel in direct drive - releasing the thumb clutch returns the drive to IAR drag. so you have instant engagement with no crank + clutch-release delay.    

Striking fish only needs thumb release.  

 

 

Santa, or in my case Santa the mailman delivered another "take a chance" reel yesterday. I had this one saved for a couple of weeks and it never sold so the seller pitched me an offer of $8 plus $7 in shipping. I passed it up again because I was looking for newer reels with more bells and whistles for my 12 year old son. I was just looking for decent quality "beater" reels he could learn on and I would not have to worry about if he dropped it to the bottom of the intracoastal waterway.

 

So I passed on the $8. And the seller came back with an offer for $5 plus the $7 in shipping. I said what the heck. Looked like a solid reel. I put it on my saved list because it had a metal frame. My reels have to have a metal frame or I will not purchase it no matter what the brand.

 

I kept passing it up because it needed a few parts and I was looking for whole reels.

 

This one I am not sure of the age, but guessing 1990's? It is an old Bass Pro BSM1000HL made in Korea by Doyo I am assuming? Called the "BassMaster."

 

It does not have bells or whistles. A pretty simple standard reel, but solid. Nice metal frame. Handle comes with 2 bearings and 2 bushings I may change out to bearings if I keep it. It has the same AR Shimano used in their Curados and Chronarch reels during same time period. The AR also kind of dates this reel. It does have plastic side plates, but sturdy. And its brakes are also very similar to what Shimano was doing back then. Heck, even the Shimano brake shoes fit this reel. So almost a rip off of Shimano and this would not be the first time.

 

I have a Doyo Browning round type of reel that is a direct copy cat rip off of a Shimano Calcutta, but oddly, the Browning is the only one I kept as it is also very well built. My frankenstein reel because it keeps getting parts from all over put into it. I've played around with 6 sets of gears in it tweaking it along.

 

But this reel when delivered was filthy dirty inside. I wonder if this one had been dunked at some point in the past.

 

 

I did a complete tear down and cleaning or so I thought. All the regular cleaning methods failed to clean the gears fully. Nothing worked.

 

So when I began reassembling the reel I noticed the gears were still dirty and clogged up way down inside of each gear tooth. Both pinion and main drive gear.

 

I had to sit at the bench wearing those funny looking microscope goggles and clean each tooth of both gears. A brass wire brush would not clean them. Solvents would not clean them. Nothing touched whatever was on those gears. Could be an old grease someone used combined with mud and dirt? I am not sure. So I had to come up with a probe that would fit to the bottom of the gear but not something that could damage the gears. I finally settled on a plastic toothpick.

 

I was able to start at one side of a gear tooth and push the solidified debris out the other side like squeezing toothpaste out. Then back for scraping off anything left behind. This is not something any tech commonly has to do for sure. It was a slow tedious job cleaning each gear tooth out.

 

I bring this up because how many of us examine those gear teeth that closely? I didn't at first because I expected normal cleaning methods to take care of it. But upon reassembly I noticed it first on the pinion gear. They often have hardened old grease still on them in hidden spots and before I put new grease on them I want to make sure they are clean. Then I noticed the main drive gear was even worse. But fortunately the normal cleaning methods had softened up whatever it was in those gear teeth.

 

 

 

Once I was able to remove 99% of whatever was clogging up the gears, I then ran them back through normal cleaning methods to finish them off back to clean brass before installing back into reel. This job took the most time.

 

I wondered about the reel having been dunked before because the main drive shaft bearing was rusted up and solidified to the frame. It was not easy to remove because this frame did not have any rear access to push it out. I had to use a penetrating oil and then find a drill bit that fit it perfectly and wobble it to break it free and begin to try and lift it out of the frame.

 

So when a new bearing was installed I like to use a little grease on the frame where the bearing is installed so the grease acts like a barrier to more corrosion and as an anti-seizing agent that will make removal next time far more easy for sure. And all bearings treated with corrosion X as well. Even the AR had similar gunk in it I don't normally see in reels.

 

But adding in some new parts like cast control cap, shims, 1 bearing, and new handle nut cover and she's back up and running again. I may swap out drag washers down the road if I keep it and go with 4 bearings in the handle as well just because.

 

And I am not sure my 12 year will be able to learn baitcasting reels on a reel like this one because it does not have much in the way of brake controls. But we shall see.

 

This is another one of those reels you never hear about online. And I mean never! I did a search for this reel and could not find not one single mention of it on any forums. I did find a couple of sales pages, but that's about it for this reel. Guess it was not a big seller. Regardless, it is a solid reel. Well built using many standard common Doyo tooling parts found all across the Bass Pro & Browning lines of reels. Its amazing to see how many of their reels use the same parts over and over and over. Makes my job of finding parts much easier. Need a part for an Abu? Grab a Bass Pro reel. Need a part for a Bass Pro reel? Grab a Browning. Gears, yokes, springs, clutch parts. I like it this way too.

 

It would be far worse for techs hunting parts if every reel had its own unique tooling and parts exclusive to just that one reel. I see the same thing in other brands. Shimano did it too. Its cheaper for them to cut production costs.

 

Kind of funny to see all these different reels with same internal parts. Same reel. Different size, shape and color. Makes techs jobs easier for sure.

 

So now I have another $5 reel that is probably close to 25 or maybe even 30 years old that is back to like new again and will fish just fine now for another 30 years. How can you beat 60 years of fishing for $5? This is how I roll on reels. No need to spend hundreds for the shiniest new thing not made anywhere near as solid since so many of today's reels avoid metal like the plague! I love MORE metal in my reels!

 

I still have to clean or replace these brake shoes. A few that were used are still dirty here. Looks by eye to be exactly the same as Shimano. If so, I have a box of them in all colors and different materials weights.

 

 

All finished. Back to smooth again! No more crunchy grinding noises or weird feeling gears. No way those gears could mesh together correctly with both pinion and main gears clogged up with solidified material stuck deep inside of each gear tooth. Done and over with now. Time to try this one out. I love older vintage heavy metal reels! And I love it that fishermen are dumping them for cheap! Thanks!

 

 

I wish I could find out more info on this old reel. Nothing to be found out there really.

The beauty of Ambassadeur, in addition to extreme bench-race aftermarket parts, you can always find NOS OEM parts - especially pinions.  Always new A/R dog.  

This '77 4500C got NOS brass main + pinion to replace the steel main. 

 

This one got new pinion, couldn't find new brass main (except in UK), but I had two steel main gears to pick the best.  

Both '77/'78 4500C got NOS alloy LW pinions to replace nylon, and both small-frames (1500CI and 2500CIT) also got new alloy LW pinions.  

 

I've even had luck finding Isuzu parts in Japan.  NMB bearings, drag stack shims, LW bearing collar.  This used 720 got a major workover - badly needed the new A/R dog, and works wonderfully.  

 

Are you buying gears as a set or do you do any mix and matching of these aftermarket gears?

 

I assume when you said you purchased one pinion here and a main gear elsewhere they were a matched set just ordered separately?

NOS by individual Abu p/n, 

or aftermarket gear sets to improve MOC and drive ratio.  

You have to be careful with small frames, because high-ratio gears may brinnell the pinion on big fish - that's why Simon Shimomura's 6.3 brass gears with boss pinion is on my 2500CIT.  (sorry, no gear photo - I think @redmeansdistortion posted a photo of Simon's gearset)

In the case of C3-CT surf reels, I bought loaded brake plates from RocketReelCo, because it was cheaper than buying the gears/BB-mainshaft-stack parts individually.  

Gear run-in is noticeable on Simon's brass gear set, as well as stainless pinions on C3, but they all smooth-out soon enough.  

 

Stainless is the only gear MOC that improves with (normal) use and never wears out - FCC stainless work-hardenes more than any other MOC, and gear teeth reach knife-blade hardness.  

Zzeta also makes a carboloy spool spindle for C3, which is on all my surf C3's - more wear impervium.  

On 9/6/2025 at 10:18 AM, FloridaFishinFool said:

A side note. As I listened to the above video of his description of the reel's frame he said it comes with a LFS frame. "Lighter, faster, stronger" I guess is new avoidance language to describe plastic frames in a better light. And that's a flipping reel? Not in my world! Don't want no plastic reels made in China!

• 11-BEARING SYSTEM with stainless steel double shielded bearings provides exceptionally smooth reeling and enhanced corrosion protection
• ONE-PIECE ALUMINUM FRAME promotes lightweight durability and eliminates flex
• DOUBLE ANODIZED ALUMINUM 34mm SPOOL is tough, lightweight, machined, and braid-ready with a large line capacity

• SPEED GEARS® with P2 SUPER PINION® are cut on the finest Hamai CNC machines to provide smooth cranking power with less wear
• FLIPPING SWITCH on all models make this reel a shallow water bass angler's dream