Vintage Refurb

[J.W.]

My wife's friend decided to have me rewrap her father's rod. It's a 1970s (best I can tell) Lew's glass rod. It's 5'6" with a pistol grip handle. Old school. It was topped with the oldest (and dirtiest) Abu Garcia Ambassadeur 5000 I've ever seen.

Here's the rod label:
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It cracks me up that the warranty papers were still tucked in the reel seat. I left them in there. You never know. 
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The old thread finish seemed to be more of a polyurethane varnish than an epoxy. It didn't take a whole lot of work to peel the old wraps off. They were pretty deteriorated in some places.
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The tip top was different from what I'm used to seeing. Instead of a tube, it was two flanges that extend down the side of the blank to provide a wrapping surface.
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The reel:
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Continued in the next post...

[J.W.]

The gentleman this rod belongs to is very patriotic, so I was asked to do red, white, and blue, rather than recreating the old red and gold wraps:
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After epoxy:
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So I took the reel to Mike. He could tell you more about the internals on it, but it is one old Abu. He made it look and feel 1,000% better. There was plenty of dirt, grime and some 50-year-old grease caked in it. The push button was hard to engage and the reel was not smooth. Now it works like it should. Mike got it back in the best shape it's been in since it was new.

By the way, if anyone knows how to tell the date on an old Ambassadeur by serial #, let me know.


Here it is, all put back together, back with his daughter.

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[Captsteve]

Nice

 A bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work.

[BASSCATLILDAVE]

Looks Great

[FD]

That was really well done JW.  Congratulations on a successful rebuild!

[J.W.]

Thanks guys. It was supposed to be a Father's Day gift, but she went ahead and gave it to him a couple of days ago. She said he loved it. Hopefully he can go reel in a few with it.

[FlatsNBay]

JW, the best that I can recall that rod model was the late 80s to early 90s. I used to use all the latest and greatest Lews rods and reels back in the day and I remember having a few Tournament Gold series of Lews rods.

[J.W.]

JW, the best that I can recall that rod model was the late 80s to early 90s. I used to use all the latest and greatest Lews rods and reels back in the day and I remember having a few Tournament Gold series of Lews rods.

Thanks Flats. Best I had to go on was a couple of auction listings for the same model, and they may not have been correct. I wanted to make sure it wasn't worth anything before I rewrapped it.

[SHC286]

The reel should be from the late 80's. I don't believe AG ever really set up to track manufacturing dates with serials, some of their reels never had them. It's a product you have to be familiar with the changes made over the years. I have Ambassadeurs from each decade, and that one is a twin to a 5500 I have that I know came from the mid-late eighties.

[J.W.]

Late 80's would fall in with what Flats said about the rod. I don't know if they were purchased at the same time, but wouldn't doubt it.

[Capt. BassinLou]

Good ole round abu reels. I learned how to use b/c's with those reels.  I still have a few, but I don't use them. I prefer low profile reels.