Here’s a latest cleanup of a very early Meisselbach baitcaster belonging to Jim Schottenham. Jim is always tripping into some great finds and this one was buried in a box of junkers…looks like a junker itself, but it’s a toughie and as shown below, it cleaned up really nice, all considered.
The big problem with these early models was the use of the threaded rubber sideplate…easily stripped and abused by the metal rim on the faceplate side and often just lost all its threads and became useless. This one had lost some of its threads, but the real problem was that it was stuck on soooo tight, I just couldn’t get it to budge! After talking with Jim Hardman about it, I decided to try hot water treatment to see if that would do the trick. I put the faceplate side in water warm enough that you wouldn’t want to leave your hand in there, but not so warm as to cause harm to fingers or reel. After a few minutes, I tried again to remove the rim ring, with no luck. So, I bagged it up and put it in the freezer overnight….which brings me to the main reason for this post, other than to show you a neat reel: when I pulled It out of the freezer the next morning, the ring immediate unscrewed. I have used this trick with metal on metal threads as well with success. So, we always think of using heat treatments, but don’t forget the power of cold! Nice score, Jim!
Really interesting clicker setup…when “on”, the clicker only works as line is pulled off…it’s silent on the retrieve. Can’t understand why more reel makers did use this setup!
After:
Early Meisselbach Rescue
- john elder
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Re: Early Meisselbach Rescue
Wow! MAGIC! What a beautiful job and reel.
- Midway Tommy D
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Re: Early Meisselbach Rescue
Very, very nice John!
Tom
Tom
- Wayne B.
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Re: Early Meisselbach Rescue
Nice job, Prez!
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Re: Early Meisselbach Rescue
John, you never cease to amaze me with these "rescues".
Maybe we should call you the magician.
Maybe we should call you the magician.