A Winter Project

[coastal_dan]

Absolutely fantastic, thanks for bringing us on the journey 

[Penn Chronology]

Absolutely fantastic, thanks for bringing us on the journey  Smiley

Glad you enjoyed it. Somewhere down the road I will get a double dog bridge, a special drag insert and whatever other odds and ends that are created, as they become available. At that point I will open the "Golden Reel" again and see if I can make it even more interesting.

[Penn Chronology]

There is something else I wanted to mention about this saga.

I am in the process of putting together a companion book with a collector Penn price guide to go with my big book. It would cover the same first 25 year era as my first book but from a different perspective. I mentioned to the publisher about this project and he felt we could insert this Accurate 113H story into the Price Guide as a side bar short story. I would be mentioning all the help I received here, what a great place this website is, the high and very diverse levels of skills the members have, the innovations and the generous people I have met here.

I feel like I am occupying a very special zone and I want to shine a little notoriety in this direction in my own way.

If anyone has a problem with that or wants to talk about it, please PM me and we can work it out.

[alantani]

we have never had a discussion here, about who owns what.  it sure doesn't belong to me!  i've always figured that once something makes it out onto the internet, it is no longer yours, so, mike, anything that i've written, feel free to add to your book.  but most the serious modifications have been done by others.  guys, if you don't mind having mike add your stuff to his book, let him know.  i'm sure he'll be in touch with you, though.  thanks!  alan

[Bryan Young]

Same here from me. 

[Three se7ens]

I'd be honored to be mentioned in the book.

[Penn Chronology]

OK, great. The plans for the release is later this year. Those type plans are always at the mercy of life getting in the way of things, as it does happen that way from time to time, but late 2015 it should become available. I just like to clear thing up way in the future. Makes life easier that way.

Thanks

[broadway]

Mike,
    I look forward to your next book and will be one of your first buyers, but I have to ask.... How would a price list work? The reason I ask is because when I go on ebay i see a 1950's NOS 9/0 sells for $125 and a week later a 1960's Excellent condition 9/0 sells for $220. Isn't the price kinda subjective? Also, will you update the price list annually? Thanks for putting in the time for the rest of us,
Dom

[Maxed Out]

Dom, I imagine the "price guide" would be for what the reel cost when it was new, the same as Michaels penn history book does....and when a standard 9/0 sells for $220, it only means there were 2 stubborn bidders that didn't want to give up at the usual $120 mark......unless it's the holy grail, or big red , in that case $1600 is a bargain

I think a pocket size quick reference guide is a fantastic idea Mike. I'll be first in line to get one !!

[broadway]

Ah, so it would be a price guide from back in the day?!  ...that'd be very cool and helpful in determining the year of a certain reel. I know what you're saying about stubborn bidders
Don't rub in the holy grail... I know where you live, pal 
Ted, you wait on line ....I'll just buy mine online or drive to mikes house to get one. Either way, I'll get mine first 
Mike, Whatever you come out with will have tons of pen history in it so bring it on!
Can't wait,
Dom
PS- thanks for the explanation, Ted.

[foakes]

Anything I have said -- you are welcome to quote, Mike -- but I cannot imagine anything I might have to say about Penns to be more useful or informative then the real experts on this Board.  Such as you, Alan, Bryan, Sal, Keith, John, Daron, Dom, Bill, and probably 2 dozen others that are really knowledgable.

As for a price guide -- it is really pretty simple:

Forget about ebay prices -- they can be way too high if a couple of guys get into a shooting match -- or way too low in the case of a mis-labeled an innocently mis-represented reel.  Remember, there are amateur sellers, amateur buyers, professional sellers, professional buyers -- and everybody else.  So ebay is fun -- and we are all looking for that bargain -- or buy it now new listing for a song.  But one cannot base complete values off of a system like that.

Instead, there needs to be a "bedrock price range" -- based on condition, rarity, availability, Ex, NIB, EWB, good, fair, average, rough, etc..

There is an expert on spinning reels -- his name is Ben Wright.  He has written a few volumes of the Wright's Guide to Spinning Reels.  He shows pics, recent prices based on his considerable experience, and some information.

Much like a Blue Book, Black Book, or the NADA guide for vehicles.  It is a considered opinion, is based on what a vehicle should be valued at, and is used as a starting point or "guide" for banks, insurance companies, car dealers, etc. 

Both cars and reels can be more or less than the book value -- but a professional guide is useful to determine a starting number.

And this will change slightly within a year or two anyway.

Just my opinion...

Best,

Fred

[Maxed Out]

there needs to be a "bedrock price range" -- based on condition, rarity, availability, Ex, NIB, EWB, good, fair, average, rough, etc..

.


I agree Fred, however, that's in a perfect world, and it only takes a few minutes of browsing on eBay to see that there is huge difference in opinions about condition of a used reel, or even a new reel. One might say a reel with salt corrosion is near mint, while another might even say it hasn't been used, while a 3rd would say its only good for parts. Bottom line is a price guide for current value would be an excellent tool for the hundreds of thousands of estate sale junkies. If anyone could do it, Michael can.

[txangler81]

I wish the car dealers still used the books for pricing anymore they go by what they can get for it at auction at least the ones in Texas do. Also I have seen pawn shops use ebay as a guide to pricing. I my self have used ebay as a guide in judging whether or not a price at an item at a pawn shop is fair or not. That said I use it subjectively, because there are a lot of sellers out there that use the "buy it now" and reserve price functions on ebay to set the price way to high. Those are also the ones who are still trying to sell the same items they where trying to sell last year. I find it extremely difficult to not send them a message saying they need to look at the prices the items actually sell for and adjust your prices accordingly. 

[Penn Chronology]

Wow, there is a lot of speculation here! The price guide will be exactly that, a guide to give an idea of values based on what I have seen trading for the last tens years. It will not be what the reels sold for when they were released, that info is in the Summaries at the end of the history book. I have no idea how often I will be able to update it. Actually, once it is created, it can be used to give a buyer what is valuable and what is common rather that putting an exact value on a reel that would be updated every year. Exact values can never be determined by what happens in auctions, auctions are almost always off. My prices will be what I feel is an average. There will be an explanation of how I determine what is what at the beginning of the price guide. I give a range, the low end of the range is a fully functional reel that is cosmetically challenged. Reels that are doctored up or missing parts I do not presume to value. New Old Stock means a mint, unused reels still in the box with the contents of the box that Penn put in there when it sold the reel.

Here is an example from a future work. In the book the guide will be in a chart that will span 1932 to 1957.


YEAR                    REEL  NAME                       MODEL#                       PRICE RANGE                                  NEW OLD STOCK
            
1959                      Jigmaster                                 500                         $30---$60                                          $140
1959                      Jigmaster                 not cataloged 500M                   $30---$60                                           $250

             The chapters will be a collection of my Penn articles from the ORCA publication, The Reel News. There are seventeen of them.

It is good to see all the interest.

[Penn Chronology]

Time to bring the old Accurate 113H back again. I found different drags and a SS double dog bridge. Sure wish I had Sal to bounce this off of but I feel he will be here in spirt.

I will make this short. I kind of forgot how to post tutorials here, so I am going to do my best with this. Basically I took apart the old Accurate 113H, which I believe I will never sell. To me, it represents the good people of the Tani World. Anyways, This is the old Winter Project reel and I was really surprised when I found this old thread that more than five years had passed since the beginning of this project began.

I accumulated a few more parts a couple of years ago and finally decided I should take the reel apart to change the parts. That was not an easy decision because the reel was perfect, smooth and strong. Why mess with something that works that well? Because that is what we do. If it has 20 pounds of drag, why not make it have 30. If it has one dog, let's make it two. If it is a perfectly operating brass part, let change that brass part to a stainless steel part, simply because that is the Tani way. So here is what I did.

I took a perfectly operating Penn / Accurate 113H and made it stronger and tighter. Now it feel like I could tow a large boat with it.