ABU 505 SERVICE REELS

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BeechmereLake
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ABU 505 SERVICE REELS

Post by BeechmereLake »

Over a period of time I got myself into what is better known as "Service Reels" which I believe was the brainchild of someone from the J.W.Youngs factory (Cant remember his name now) It was all to do with keeping the angler fishing while his or her reel was being repaired or serviced, the first reel I believe was a Delmatic from J.W Youngs which I owned for some time, the reel had a red badge with the word Service reel "LOANED" on it.

So here is for me the reel that started it all.
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It was during the 1960's that Abu got into the service reel game and what I found out was the Abu 505, which at the time, was the reel offered to tackle dealers for the purpose of helping out the customer with repairs or servicing. Rather than badge the reels Abu had the cowlings engraved for the dealer with the dealers name on it, confirmation of where the reel belonged if you like.

Over the years I have seen some right monsters out there trying to pass as genuine reels as at one time they made very high amounts of money but with abu there are a few certain things that stand out, just so I protect the reels and the collectors who own them I wont release all the information I have found on them to really say that a reel is authentic.

So for me an original will have a certain engraving to the cowling, the reel will also be only a 505, I guess its possible that a tackle shop had there own reels engraved and I will show you one I believe is genuine below but not what I would call a genuine ABU reel. The font of the engraving gives it away and being the owner of this reel I had an opportunity to have it verified by someone who did engraving in the 1960's, he also still had the machine capable of doing the then font, it is his opinion that this reel was done freehand by an engraver.

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OK so looking at these reels you would expect them to come from tackle shops that had issued them out and would be in used or abused condition, so for me prestine reels with wrong serial numbers and new perfect engraving on them are just what they are, fakes.
Here below you can see what for me was probably the most iconic reel a collector could own in his collection, if you look at the engraving of the reel then you can see how its fractured the anodizing of the cowling, more modern ways today of engraving will not do this, the name will look almost perfect.

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The name on the reel says it all really as can also be seen on the reel pouch,a true collectors piece indeed.

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In all I have had some 14 different reels with most of them all having identical parts or serial numbers, here are a few more from over the years.

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This last cowling I had done by a friend who said he still had the machine and font lettering to copy what they did from the 1960's so I had this done to go with the ABU 505 book I helped a certain person do, its a fake and can be crushed anytime, its also put on a much later reel

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So if you ever get into these reels then an obvious look for is engraving, you should also look inside the engraving and look for old bare metal, anything new and shinny I would run from, old and fractured is good. Serial numbers are critical and there is also a way of knowing if the tackle shop dealer was correct at the time. Enjoy
" It is a sinister place yet powerfully fascinating"

"BB"

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Willsmodger
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Re: ABU 505 SERVICE REELS

Post by Willsmodger »

Fascinating stuff. I never knew such a service existed. I've certainly never seen one of these reels.
I wonder what happened when the angler liked the loaner better than his original reel?
They are from a time when service was as important as sales. Not so much now, I can't really think of anything I would take into my local tackle shop, firstly because I suspect I would be met with a blank stare and secondly because who needs sarky comments from the owners mates who seem to live there?
Really interesting post, thanks.
All the best.

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BeechmereLake
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Re: ABU 505 SERVICE REELS

Post by BeechmereLake »

For me it shows the care that was given or should I say after sales by the manufacturer and dealer back in the early days of these reels, I still get closed face reels brought into my tackle shop for repairs or servicing and at times you get the odd comment like "throw it in the bin" or "blimey I had one of those when I was a kid but grew up", what they should be saying is "fair play for still using one".
As we are all aware now the problem with fixing a modern day reel is the cost and availability of the parts, for some reels like closed face reel parts are seriously hard to find, parts like a gear set for a 501, guess what? I just bought a set :Hahaha: I like rare parts and the time for me to buy them is when you see them :Hat:
" It is a sinister place yet powerfully fascinating"

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Fredline
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Re: ABU 505 SERVICE REELS

Post by Fredline »

Here are a couple more of the service reels from the Abu 505 stable. The second picture shows the "rough" engraving. This was all that was available at the time. If it is too neat, be afraid. I have seen more good versions than bad of these reels purely because of the simplicity of maintenance. They were very often a 5 minute fix and the service reels were just not required, hence the condition some of them.
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If you have no grease with you, and your rings are full of ice, do not cut out the ice with a pen-knife but get your man to put the rings one by one in his mouth, and so to thaw the ice.
John Bickerdyke.

Paul D

Re: ABU 505 SERVICE REELS

Post by Paul D »

Utterly fascinating BL, I'm starting to really look forward to your posts, what a depth of knowledge you have, if I may get a little technical, can you explain your photographs, they are bloody well done. :Hat:

Stuart Whiting

Re: ABU 505 SERVICE REELS

Post by Stuart Whiting »

Hi BL,

Yea I have to agree with Paul D that yer Abu articles are incredibly fascinating and knowledgeable to read and the pics are of good quality aswell,

Keep up the good work mate :Hat:

Stuart Whiting

Re: ABU 505 SERVICE REELS

Post by Stuart Whiting »

BeechmereLake wrote:For me it shows the care that was given or should I say after sales by the manufacturer and dealer back in the early days of these reels, I still get closed face reels brought into my tackle shop for repairs or servicing and at times you get the odd comment like "throw it in the bin" or "blimey I had one of those when I was a kid but grew up", what they should be saying is "fair play for still using one".
As we are all aware now the problem with fixing a modern day reel is the cost and availability of the parts, for some reels like closed face reel parts are seriously hard to find, parts like a gear set for a 501, guess what? I just bought a set :Hahaha: I like rare parts and the time for me to buy them is when you see them :Hat:
Very interesting BL,

I for one would also most definitely be interested in any spare parts for the 501 :Hat:

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BeechmereLake
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Re: ABU 505 SERVICE REELS

Post by BeechmereLake »

Fredline wrote:Here are a couple more of the service reels from the Abu 505 stable. The second picture shows the "rough" engraving. This was all that was available at the time. If it is too neat, be afraid. I have seen more good versions than bad of these reels purely because of the simplicity of maintenance. They were very often a 5 minute fix and the service reels were just not required, hence the condition some of them.
Image

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Great reels, two other examples of how the engraving should be Fredline, do you own these reels? I am familiar with the names on them and know they are correct
" It is a sinister place yet powerfully fascinating"

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BeechmereLake
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Re: ABU 505 SERVICE REELS

Post by BeechmereLake »

Well thank you Paul D and Stuart Whiting for your comments on my pictures, trying to keep it reasonably short I have been involved over the years with some of the worlds finest collectors both for Abu and Mitchell reels, a chance came to get involved with Jim Partridge when we decided to do a book on auto-bails, basically he had the knowledge and I had many of the reels, we put this together and did our first book "The Mitchell Match & Auto-bail Book".
While it was a basic book with much information missing and several auto bail reels missing from it the book was a good guide for a collector to learn from. Also got involved with the Ultralite book and then the ABU 505 book as I had again many of the reels in my collection, sadly thats where it all ended for one reason or another. Anyway for me my dad was a great photographer and my brother is also a professional wedding photographer, I could hardly let the family down when taking pictures of my reels, I bought at the time a Sony cyber-shot camera with HD options and took pictures of reels anywhere I could, used the waste of time light tents found on line but then found a studio light box which gave the perfect lighting to do small items like phones and model cars, perfect for reels. An upgrade a few years on to an even better light box and the use of colored vinyl wrap that gets used on cars gives me a nice background for the pictures, I have tried many but gold just seems to do it for me. Right now I am working on my new for 2017 wall calendars and desk top calendars using another gold option background. Biggest thing for me is the camera, its cheap and easy to use though originally it was over £200 when it first came out, distant pictures on the thing are nowhere near the best but put it on the macros setting and its an amazing little camera, probably why I own 10 of them :Hahaha:
Check this out for a close up

[url=httpsut://postimg.org/image/ht7vt8qrr/]Image[/url]

and these taken outside on my garden wall, the light box is everything really for good close ups but not cheap to buy, every now and then though a good shot outside jumps out at you like the Garcia reel below

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or this one
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Last edited by BeechmereLake on Sun Oct 23, 2016 7:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
" It is a sinister place yet powerfully fascinating"

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Tinca Tinca
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Re: ABU 505 SERVICE REELS

Post by Tinca Tinca »

Interesting stuff and great pictures,Sir.

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