Original ABU Cardinal 44???

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PeteD
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Re: Original ABU Cardinal 44???

Post by PeteD »

Not so keen on the gold plated finish but I do rather like the burr and cork handles.

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Fisherman1947
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Re: Original ABU Cardinal 44???

Post by Fisherman1947 »

I have a 44x it looks genuine .
Old fishermen never die they only smell that way.

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Duckett
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Re: Original ABU Cardinal 44???

Post by Duckett »

Olly wrote: Thu Apr 12, 2018 11:05 am There is currently a big market in "pimp" your fishing tackle - especially reels and bobbins!
I could be wrong but this seemed to start amongst Japanese lure anglers. It seemed to reach the U.K. bass, light rock fishing and urban lure angling scene about 3 years ago. The handles I get but wouldn’t bother with. Some of the stuff I’ve seen done to unmentionable rods is just plain idiotic.
From "... the wilds of the Wirral, whose wayward people both God and good men have quite given up on ...".

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Olly
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Re: Original ABU Cardinal 44???

Post by Olly »

The carpers think they are luverly!

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RightCharlie
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Re: Original ABU Cardinal 44???

Post by RightCharlie »

There was a reissued Cardinal 33 around possibly early 80's? a lot of mint boxed ones appeared at the fairs. From memory these all had the same serial number, I had one in my collection at one point. I think they may have been a final edition for collectors, I'm sure someone on here will know the full story?

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Paul_V
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Re: Original ABU Cardinal 44???

Post by Paul_V »

many thanks to the original poster and to everyones helpful and knowledgeable replies.

I have just started to add a few Abu cardinals to my reel collection. so far have a nice 54 and a 55. I realise these are not the same models as this thread... I also didnt want to hijack it in anyway, but did want to ask a question about these earlier Abu cardinals as discussed.

did they ever make any right hand wind reels in the early series of cardinals?

thanks all.. Paul

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BeechmereLake
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Re: Original ABU Cardinal 44???

Post by BeechmereLake »

As far as I know the 50 series reels were Abu's first venture into ambidextrous reels having the changeable handle, all down to the way the gears were made which came about in 1977.

For the reel to be ambidextrous was an easy way to make a reel work for both left and right handed anglers, company's like Mitchell carried on making dedicated left or right hand wind reels which would of cost the company a fortune in development and manufacturing due to the way the gearing was made for the reels, Abu's worm and pinion was just perfect for being ambidextrous, very much like the earlier J.W.Youngs Ambidex reels

This is the main gear from a Cardinal 55 which shows the hex nut fitting for the handle, the reel used a locking bar rather than a threaded core in the main gear
Image

This is the main gear showing how the handle would fit for the right handed angler
Image

Image

And here is the same handle gear set up but for the "lefty" angler who winds the reel with his left hand.
Just a very simple release of the locking bar and swap sides with the handle.

Image

There was an earlier fixing for the handle but it was a weak design if you needed to crank a hard fighting fish in, 2 design flaws in the Cardinal 50 series reels were the plastic spools and this handle design, with the hole for the locking bar to fit into the handle it made this block of metal two small pickups instead of one, either would snap off causing a major problem when you were fishing.

Image

This was typical Swedish engineering at its best and right now I have lost count how many of these 55 and 57 models I have serviced this year, replacement parts I have but just dont need them, its very rare you find a problem with these reels.
Image,


Having the same hex type fitting for the 55, my all time favorite reel, as the 57 meant the angler who wanted that bigger handle knob to grab hold of on those cold winter days it was an easy fix, just put the 57 handle onto the 55 and the job was done, all 6 of my Cardinal 55 reels have been converted to this handle now, I have also kind of future proofed a few of them by adding the after market metal spools from Les Shaw, its a simple wow how good the reel becomes when those horrible plastic spools are removed. Seems just by giving the reel an extra bit of work to do by pushing the metal spool up and down makes them so smooth and balanced, they are also not going to explode on you either

Sorry for the rambling on :Hat:

Image
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Paul_V
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Re: Original ABU Cardinal 44???

Post by Paul_V »

dear BeechmereLake,

wow... thanks for that excellent insight into the later reels. as I said I'm looking to get one at least of the 3 models I know of. this being the 54, 55 and 57.

It's seems that now I have been enlightened (thanks!) I shall also put some of Les Shaws spools and some 57 handles on my shopping list.

so far the only dislike I have had when looking at or using these reels has actually been the plastic spool.. perhaps not up to the quality of the rest of the reel and usually badly faded in colour too.

thanks for the brilliant reply. Paul

p.s. if I need to know more will start a thread for these elsewhere on the forum.

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BeechmereLake
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Re: Original ABU Cardinal 44???

Post by BeechmereLake »

Paul, one other thing is the drag washers on these models, again not Abu's finest hour but if you want better almost perfect working drag on your reel then the drag washers can be treated by using Microfine Graphite powder on them. I say these models the early 54 never had individual drag washers in them, I think it was 1979-80 before they changed the 54 internals.

Regards Martin
" It is a sinister place yet powerfully fascinating"

"BB"

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Robintwest
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Re: Original ABU Cardinal 44???

Post by Robintwest »

Just read all the above and I think I should make some corrections..
Simon Shimomura DID NOT acquire the Cardinal 44 or 33 tooling or moulds in 1990, 2004 or at any other time. His involvement was only in the development of reproduction Cardinal 33's and 33x's after 2006.
Cardinal 44 special edition reels sold in 1994 with the upside down 760301 were made in Japan for ABU Garcia in the same factory that produced the C4 and C3 amongst others. Cardinal 33's were also made in a special edition at this time. They were sold and marketed through ABU Garcia's normal distributors. There were a couple of internal differences between these reels and those made many years earlier in Sweden, but the tooling used was the original ABU tooling. They are not 'copies' or fakes, merely late edition 33's and 44's made for ABU Garcia in an out-sourced factory in Japan. Only 150 of each of these models were imported into the UK and they are in no way inferior in quality to earlier Swedish made reels, although I accept that they may not tick some purist collectors boxes.. Some of each were sold by Hardy Bros in their old Pall Mall store.
The tooling for both the 33 and 44 still exists, but in other hands now. To the best of my knowledge there has been no 44, reproduction or otherwise, made for decades, but as said earlier 33's have been reproduced recently for the Japanese market. The 44 tooling, I'm told, would require a great deal of costly work to make it viable again.
I've been advised that Pure Fishing, who currently own ABU Garcia, accept the use of the 'Product of Sweden' stamp on the foot of recent reproduction reels as unavoidable, but requires the makers to make clear the true origin of the product.

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