Mechanically, this reel is flawless. I have stripped it down, removed all the old grease, given it a good cleaning, and re-lubed with Hot Sauce. The gears mesh up tight, clicker is strong, anti-reverse dogs make a pleasing click, click, click, it goes in and out of freespool with authority and no hesitation, and when you give the counterbalanced handle a whirl, she just spins and spins. The spool is perfect, with no wobble or play.
Cosmetically, it has some minor issues. There is minor pitting to the spool. I say minor, because I have seen much worse, and had no problem polishing it out. Some guys don't take kindly to polishing, so I will leave that up to the new owner.
The butt collar is froze to the cradle. I guess if I had worked at it long enough, I could have gotten it loose, but I didn't want to risk damage, and most of the time the butt is displayed attached to the cradle, anyway.
The back end of the EVH rod tip is stuck inside the front of the cradle. Again, if I had worked on it long enough, I probably could have extracted it, but again, didn't want to risk damage to the cradle, and heck, after I polished it up, it didn't look too bad. It even has Edward's name engraved on it.
All in all, this is a very nice example of a relatively rare EVH reel, and would make a great centerpiece for a collection. I am asking $3500. PM me if you are interested, have questions, or want more pictures.
Thanks for looking!
John
