I'm about to pick up a pro qualifier for my dedicated trap set up. I have a JM signature reel for parts and was wondering, where are the extra bearings in the JM? Handle knobs?

Thanks

Josh

Adding bearings to the handle is one way manufacturers up their bearing count. They can also be on the main gear shaft or level-wind.

I'm aware of that, just wondering if anyone knew specificly where.

Pro Q has 2 bearings in the handle and 2 nylon bushings, also none on the levelwind.  Which could be increased to two, with the addition of a different levelwind tube.  So if you wanted to, you could increase bearing count by 4.

I did something similar to this with a couple of my BPS Extremes. I turned them into 9 bearing reels (originally 7) by adding two more to the paddle grips. They had one each in there before but now they have 2 each. There is a noticable difference in the slickness of the retrieve but it really does nothing at all for reel performance. Just smooths out any resistance you'd otherwise feel. It's more of a personal comfort than anything else although it will prevent wear a little better than with just the bushings only. I'm like you though, I would do it just cause it can be done and would make it seam smoother on the retrieve.

Thats kind of my reasoning too rooster. I crank the snot out of a rattle bait and a smoother reel is definetly a plus. In the past 6 months or so I've  gotten into tinkering with reels and its something I really enjoy.