The Zebco Book

[clinton_beeler]

Just to let you know where I am. I've been taking stock of the sheer amount of material and I have concerns. The scope of the book will be 1929-1977 but I'll include everything I can about what was made when.

First there are the exploded diagrams and parts lists. I have almost all the ones from 1949-1976. I need the "standard" (how did that happen), the 700 and the Cardinal 3. It would be ever so nice if I could get photocopies of the rest from someone to include. (By the way, thanks Milt, for the Lashmaster sheet. I found what is probably the prototype. It's at the Tulsa Historical Society along with the beer can reel and the coffee can lid.) Should I include the "Traveller" line of propane products? Not including them or anything I don't already have I'm looking at 75 pages. I define a "page" as 8-1/2 X 11 with standard size type (same as Reel News).

Then there is the bio of R.D. Hull and the early history of the company. Probably another 10 pages.

Then there is the subject of marketing... I have a solid 150 pages without any ad copy. How much would you like to know about selling fishing reels?
I hope to pare this down to a reasonable amount but it was crucial to the company's success. (lets say 20-40 pages?)

(hmmm) At this point I haven't even described the reels themselves or told any of the stories I know, however I have discovered that I may just have documentation on every change made to every part of every reel from about 1958-1975...(at least 40 pages).

OK, now I'm up to at least 145 pages (and that's being conservative) and I haven't used the word "photograph".

I would like, one day, to be able to give my son something to show him what his grandfather did. I would not like to go bankrupt in the process.

When I told you guys I was doing this, what size did you expect it to be?
What do you want to be in it?

Regards,
Clinton

[drexelantiques]

Clinton, Zebco is such a popular reel brand that I would think a book on Zebco would sell outside of just the ORCA community. The more information you give me on the history of the company, its products, and all the odd little advertising and fishing related accessories the better. Also the more information you give on catalogs, and just when certain reels were made the better.

In other words More, More, More!

I don't mind paying extra for more information.

Sign me up for a copy right now!

[Teal]

Clinton,

As a professional historian let me offer a few comments: more is better. By that I don't mean more is not NECESSARILY better, but in cases like this, if you don't chronicle this material, who will? You are in a position to record not just an important piece of sporting history, but from a unique point of view as well. It will be the definitive history of one of the great success stories in a multi-billion dollar sport fishing industry. Now I'm not suggesting the book should be 1000 pages long (although you are getting advice from a nutjob who wrote a 1326 page dissertation for his Ph.D.) but what I am saying is that don't let size deter you from what has to be done. Good books leave the reader fulfilled, no matter the length.

Please email me as for what it's worth I have some advice I would like to offer you on the publishing of your book. Best of luck as I know no matter what you do it will be a great one.

Sincerely,

Dr. Todd E.A. Larson

[SWIM JIG]

cool-thumb USA Clinton, I know I said you would have some diagrams this week however things came up that needed attention, I am planing on making copies for you on Tuesday the 19th! I will also inclose what I have on the #3 and 4 &5& 6&7 and 7X the 7 & 7x are dated 7/1/77, I will go thru our factory books to see if we have the 700 you need, and make me a list of others as we may have them in our very early repair manuals! This Is one book or you may need it in 2 volumes that I want to purchase! are you aware there are over 2800 yes 2800 pages of factory repair pages in the ZEBCO LINE? Also do you need the ZEBCO LANGLY pages? or other items related to ZEBCO? keep me advised, as I am holding our own on repair , we are getting caught up! ha ha Your Ohio Conection On Lake ERIE Col. M. Lorens aka SWIM JIG

[qwapaw]

As most of you know I am into books because knowledge is power. Also I have no experience doing andthing with a fishing reel except reeling in fish for 45 years and I want to learn. Paying for good info is worth the money and I would be interested in having one of these book when they come out. I don't collect Zebo, But heck I only had 1 South Bend reel 6 Months ago now I have 40. I say put the info in the book and we will buy it. Just me 2 cent worth. Thanks, Dan Uchytil

[Len Sawisch]

Dan,
If I haven't already, Email me your mailing address and I will send you a mini-book on 1131s.

Clinton,
Anything you know or learned that is not otherwise preserved in written or electronic form will potentially be lost forever - go inclusive!

Len

[Ron Mc]

leave the content, edit for style.
The key in editing is to throw away every word that you don't need.

[clinton_beeler]

OK. You want the big book. I see two ways to lay it out. I give no preference to either.

In one method I would have the company history and R.D. Hull bio followed by some of the marketing history. Then I would go year-by-year. At 1961 I would stop and give info on Brunswick so that the reader would know something about the company that bought Zebco. In 1962 there would be info on Langley and in 1967 ABU and so on. Each year would show not only the reels introduced that year, but all of the changes to reels already in production.

In the other I would go reel-by-reel listing the variants and changes.

Milt, you said 2800 pages. How big is one page when scanned? Wouldn't it be nice to be able to put that part on CD or DVD in the back of the book?
I have the diagrams and parts lists but no repair instructions, nor any of the Langley history before Zebco (Brunswick) bought them. I'll generate a list of reels in the next day or two and let you know.

I should also include what I know about the strategic alliance between not only Zebco/ABU but with Ryobi as well. I don't have a lot on Lew's and Browning but that will need to be included even though it came after 1976. I'll need help with the Langley history.

At this point I don't even want to think about photographs or printing costs as this would be quite depressing.

What about Motorguide?

Regards,
Clinton

[SWIM JIG]

cool-thumb USA Clinton, they are 8&1/2 in by 11inches. I do have some that have 2&3 reels on one page. You may want to put in the ZERO HOUR BOMB, the 33 , 44 , the 707 spinning reel the 55 , the 606, 888, and some others, As for a CD, I doubt that you will have enough time in the next 2-3 years to do that idea, and you would need a compleate set of factory manuals, I have some duplicate sets, however only have one compleat set from day one untill 2004! A idea you may want to incorperate is list all the reels ever made for the general public by name and number,and year or years made, and the variations and changes to the reel, That alone may take up 300 to 450 pages, and thats a lot of paper and weight! There isnt a week that goes by that I dont run into a factory change on the reels, You may want to consider doing a book or books on the actual manuals and sell them separate, thus list the reel in your main book , and year or years it was made, then ffer a repair manual for those whom may want one! I will say these manual pages are not on the best paper, and they tear easly at the binder holes, only 3 on a page! Ahain I would ask whom or who printed the manuals for ZEBCO, most likly they can print up others for you to offer for sale. Also whom ever prints Zebcos manuals my be able to print your book! and they may be able to help set up the mechanics ot your project! You are in for a very long time in doing this book,however the rewards of knowing you DONE IT , will offset the los of sleep at night! I would say to do this project properly you will have 2 volums of text and then the books with the books with the manuals! Your ohio Conection On Lake Erie Col. M. Lorens aka SWIM JIG

[el Lawrence]

Clinton,

Include as many photos, b&w drawings, diagams etc as you can. Things can be discribed all day and you still can't know what it looks like... a picture is worth...well... All the pictures don't have to be huge or even in color...

Consider the Pflueger book that was on sale at ORCA national... great read and lots of photos and illustrations too... how many pages was that? I could have had it be five times as long and been happy too!

What to cut out? Well anything that could be found elsewhere in another book... could be cut down to a short half page or something like a basic outline of the information... Some of the things (I hate to say it) maybe should be left for a book unto themselves... say a book on Langly alone... so enough to do it justice could be included. Sure a short overview, but not reel by reel or a full history... same for the motorglide, Abu...etc.

Some of the information maybe should be saved for a sequil... say stick to one or two tasks; company history overall and information on Zebco reels only. Save the side stories for book II for folks that really want the depth of the story. Or maybe the exploded full meal deal version of additional info. could be on CD in a handy pocket in the back of the book. I'm not saying do a Cliff Notes version of the book but a certain amount of the fine detail will be of interest to a smaller amount of book buyers... where as a good strong history and catalog of main reels would be a "must have" for any reel collector.

One other thing too... I would like to see all the model changes to a reel talked about on one page (section) on that reel together... not cronologically throughout the book... that way if I am using it to date (as in circa, not dinner and a movie) a reel I have it all in one place and don't have to comb the book for when a change happened and maybe miss it.

You CAN also save some space by careful layout... type point size (no not microscopic), kerning and leading adjustments, etc. could save huge amounts. Don't do justified columns (where the type ends even on both sides) I have seen that where the spaces between words ended up HUGE and near unreadable... A good graphics person could help you save some space and make it readable too...

Have you figured out how to output it yet? Even if you plan to do it on a home printer and say comb bind it I would STILL take a model of it to a couple printers and get bid estimates for having it done into some sort of soft bound booklet too... if the bindery isn't fancy or they don't have to do layout it might not be too bad cost wise. If you plan to use color I strongly suggest getting a bid or two from some professional digital printers... That was how I use to have the color calendars printed... so print quality is very nice and not nearly as costly as standard offset printing-particularly in color.

Lorraine

[ABUBO]

Hey Clinton,
It seems like you've gotten yourself a huuuge problem with all that knowledge of yours - history wise a.w.a. otherwise. Putting it all into one single book seems to be a difficult and maybe too costly a job .. and perhaps also a bit confusing for the reader. I would suggest like several others have done, to make more than one book/booklet. Say one on the main ZEBCO story as that's where you have your biggest assets, and then - for those who are interested - all the other Zebco relations pinned out in another book, and then maybe a CD or DVD with most of the schematics and additional pic's for the avid collectors. Of course you will have to take the printing costs into concideration before deciding, so asking a few prof's on that seems like a logical thing to do.
Right - listing every type of reel with all the changes throughout it's production periode is the best - by far, so I agree with el Lawrence on that (too) and for his reasons to do it that way.
Well - I hope you're hanging in there Clinton .. if I can be of any help - any help at all, you know how to reach me.
Thumbs Up
B.R. Bo

[SWIM JIG]

USA Clinton, have you recived the copies of the ZEBCO cardinals and the Garcia bait caster reels I sent you by Priority Mail? hope they didnt get lost! Your Ohio Conection Col. milton lorens aka SWIM JIG

[clinton_beeler]

Hi Guys,

The last five or six weeks have been an excersize in (semi) controlled chaos. I'm to a point now that I can get back to work on the book and I also agree with Lorraine.

Milt, I got the papers (thank you very much) and I'll be sharing copies with ABUBO. Right now I'm rediscovering the joys of sending a three pound box to Denmark. I'm up to the paperwork part.

Another instructor was just hired and he has a super color laser printer, but it's only 8-1/2x11. You're absolutely right about putting the info in one location. Last night I finally had time to start looking at the handwritten notebook and in a very few minutes had 36 changes to the QZ from 1959 alone. I can't scatter that all over or nobody would find it all.

I also configured my work machine so that I can E-mail with no problem so now I can get a message to TEAL and yes I'll get quotes. A friend of mine has been running presses for over 20 years so I'll talk to them as well as others. Ben Wright was kind enought to offer help too.

Well, got to go for now.

Regards,
Clinton

[Dan Basore]

With the arrival finally of much needed rain, taking the opportunity to rearrange aquisitions and finding a bunch of things I forgot about. One is the above book with not only great text but many photos.

The cover letter is dated May 7, 1999. Sixty photos include many early shots of R.D. Hull, products, Bill Carter's promotions including 3,453 casts in 14 hours and 14 minutes without a backlash, slingshot mounted Zebco, Fidel Castro fishing and shooting turtles and coots while smoking a cigar, young Mickey Mantle, Mike Ditka and Bart Starr working their booths at sports shows, the plant and aquisitions like Martin Reel, Browning, Lew's and MotorGuide.

I assume you have access to this book but if not please let me know.

[el Lawrence]

Funny that a book called "Teaching AMERICA to fish" would feature Fidel Castro wetting a line using a Zebco...

Or maybe...

Then again... one of the first holes in the mortar of the Berlin wall/cracks in the foundations of the USSR was a Mc Donalds in red square and every Soviet eager to get their hands on a pair of Levi's jeans and a Coke-a-cola...

Yep I see it all now... a crafty plot by the Beelers to take over the world. Get everyone hooked on fishing by putting a fool-proof Zebco in their hands...

Now we just need to dig some fishing ponds in the middle east... stock in a few Pan fish... pack a few containers full of #33s spooled with 10lb test, brace of two-piece rods and a crate of H&H spinners...

Give a man a fish and he eats for a day...
Teach a man to fish...
and he starts collecting tackle, fishing in every spare moment, buys a boat and you never see him on weekends (or the week of Nationals) again...

[clinton_beeler]

Hmmm... No, I didn't know about that one. Was it put out by Zebco? It sounds like the pictures that were in the 50th anniversary press guide (which I do have). Yup, I knew about Castro. The story goes that he was fishing with one of the Carter brothers and when the fish weren't biting, pulled out a sub-machine gun and started shooting alligators. Does it have the picture of the chimpanzee that one of them dressed in a suit that matched his own? If a monkey can do this, you can too!

I asked father once whatever happened to the Carter brothers. "They got 10% of whatever they sold. They got rich."

I am definitely interested in that book. Where can I at least be privy to the information? Ownership is not necessary.

Regards,
Clinton

[Dan Basore]

Upon further review Clinton...

I see that this must be the same book you have as it has a cover letter to;

Dear media friend. Let me know if it's something you wish to borrow and I'll loan it to you if it's different from yours. It's a great source of information.

Dan

[clinton_beeler]

I don't know how many times I've referenced that book without reading the title (how embarrasing). It is the same book. I didn't know that there were any other copies in existence. Thanks for offering though.

I've been reading the handwritten notebook again and now realize that the "QZ" is in fact two different reels. The 88 and 89. In about 1972 the 89 designation was changed to "YZ". The "UZ" was also used for two different reels, the 606 which ended production in 1969 and the 600 which began in 1970. In each case so many parts were the same that it made sense to do so. I've also found a reference to a change made to the "XZ" in May of 1960. The XZ is the 202 which wasn't released until 1962. hmmm...

Thanks again,
Clinton

[Dan Basore]

Super Clinton...

And so glad you have this book. The more you review it the more you learn. There are many times when you have to stop and say WOW!

A superb source for Zebco history. I only wish other tackle makers had taken such pride in their products and produced such books. Can't wait to see your finished product!