Vintage/ classic / " old school "fishing rods & reels

[bantam5s]

I just found a 4th Shakespeare 2052 that I completely forgot I had.
After replacing the bearing,  that should leave me with 3 good working examples and 1 parts reel that just needs a snap ring.

[jimbo]

Here's a couple of old reels a buddy gave me 40 some years ago, I just tore them completely down and regreased and oiled them all up. I don't remember if I ever even used them yet.

[bantam5s]

This early Penn 716 greenie had most of the paint missing on the side plate and pretty rough finish on the handle assembly, so I decided to strip & polish both.
It was also missing the badge so I glued on a wheat penny in it's place.

[bantam5s]

I just scored this vintage Shakespeare 2062 EC ( so 1968 ) on Ebay.
the seller listed it as old stock because it has the original box paperwork and wrench, but it looks like it was used a little bit.

The box tells me it shipped pre spooled with line, and I would not be surprised if that is the original line that I'll have to deal with.

I most prefer the little ultralight's, but don't have anything to compare to my Mitchell 300.
I think next I'll have to end up getting a Penn 714 which is in between the little 716 and the 712, Shakespeare doesn't have an in between size.

[bantam5s]

Just an FYI on the Shakespeare reals.
 The 2 letter code is not a date of manufacture,but it notes the model year so to speak.
Some change was made in the manufacturing, and the code notes the year that variant was introduced.

This isn't supposed to mean the real was made in that year, but on the royal maroon reels I have seen '66 '67 '68 '69 & '70 codes meaning that this code does essentially tell you the year.
An EE reel could have started production in '65, but wouldn't have continued production in '67 after the ED was introduced.

In the 70's there were only 3 variants until they were discontinued in '77,  DA '70 DE '76 & DC '78 (I don't think they originally planned to discontinued them)

[bantam5s]

I forgot to include the chart.

[bantam5s]

I received the reel and it clearly hasn't been used much, it really was just a bit grimy.



With something that you know was never used there's nothing to worry about, but with something that was only used a little bit you have to ask yourself why it was only used a little bit.

It seems that the original owner had caused some damage to the drive gear before ever using it very much then just put it in the box on a shelf.

I dressed the teeth that were chewed up ( the steel drive gear is a little softer than the pinion gear )  and it is completely fishable now. It is relatively smooth too.
It's not as smooth as I know it can be though and stops sooner than it should, more than adequate but not up to my standards so I will be sourcing a replacement drive gear for it.