Shakespeare spinning reels from the '70s.....

Started by Flounder Boy 3, May 09, 2016, 11:46:37 PM

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happyhooker

As others have stated, Heddon is an old-time name, maybe better known for their lures and rods vs. their reels.  Here's a 222 I cleaned & lubed; virtually all metal, except for the drag knob & finger paddle on the handle.  Drag is a little strange; located in the spool and consists of a retainer, metal keyed washer and then 2 what appear to be cork disks, the lower of which rides in the bottom of the spool.  No metal disk between the 2 cork ones; drag didn't have much adjustment range, so I tried inserting another keyed washer between the 2 cork ones; it's a little better, but now trying to figure out if it ought to run dry, or oiled, or greased, or....  Color scheme definitely old school.

Take a peek at this Berkley 426 as well.  Also all metal for the most part, except for finger pad & drag knob.  Black metallic paint.  This 'un also has drag in the spool--a keyed washer and a disk about 1/8 " thick that appears to be made of some sort of fiber material; not sure if this is run dry or greased either.  Another old time name.

Hard to find much history on either of these.  Both are stamped on the foot that they were assembled in US from parts made in Japan.

Midway Tommy

#31
QuoteHard to find much history on either of these.  Both are stamped on the foot that they were assembled in US from parts made in Japan.

From over at the Any Idea? thread ....> "Most Roddy spinners were made by Olympic or Daiwa, as were many of the Daisy-Heddons. There are a lot of similarities between some of the Daisy-Heddons & Roddys if one looks closely, and both claimed to be assembled in the USA. The Rodac I posted has a bent leg at the foot connection, as do many of the Daisy-Heddons, but the reel in question has a straight leg like a lot of Roddys. The Heddon Spin Matics and Roddy Gyros are basically the same reel, and the Daisy-Heddon 230 and Roddy 820A & 830 have the same body style with a main gear hump."

I would surmise that Olympic had some involvement in Berkley reels, also, given their many similarities to some of the Heddon models. Heddon reels were made by Olympic. The Heddon 222 was made in the mid '60s, as was the Berkley 426.
Love those open face spinning reels! (Especially ABU & ABU/Zebco Cardinals)

Tommy D (ORCA), NE



Favorite Activity? ............... In our boat fishing
RELAXING w/ MY BEST FRIEND (My wife Bonnie)

happyhooker

On the Shimano MLZs (foakes; smnaguwa), here's a pic of the spool end of a MLZ 20, as well as the drag disk off that spool end and the drag disk off the drag knob. The drag parts on my MLX 300 are similar, but larger in size.  The 300 has a black body; the 20 is silver.  I've only had the 20 a few weeks and have never serviced or used it (yet), but the drag disks were both oily when I 1st looked at them.  Ditto the disks on the 300 the 1st time I peeked at those.

The disks off the drag knobs seem to be some sort of molded plastic.  The disks off the spool end are a thin material, with 3 ears; textured; maybe plastic or...?  Anyone know what material they are?  Should they be oiled for use or...?

happyhooker

When I said "spool end" I should have said "rotor end."

The Fishing Hobby

Quote from: happyhooker on May 23, 2017, 09:19:55 PM
On the Shimano MLZs (foakes; smnaguwa), here's a pic of the spool end of a MLZ 20, as well as the drag disk off that spool end and the drag disk off the drag knob. The drag parts on my MLX 300 are similar, but larger in size.  The 300 has a black body; the 20 is silver.  I've only had the 20 a few weeks and have never serviced or used it (yet), but the drag disks were both oily when I 1st looked at them.  Ditto the disks on the 300 the 1st time I peeked at those.

The disks off the drag knobs seem to be some sort of molded plastic.  The disks off the spool end are a thin material, with 3 ears; textured; maybe plastic or...?  Anyone know what material they are?  Should they be oiled for use or...?
I have two MLX10's which use the same sort of drag washers. I believe the disk under the knob is nylon which has self lubricating properties and doesn't require anything added. The disk under the spool seems to be some sort of synthetic fiber which I used just enough suberlube grease to dampen the surface on. Drag works smooth for me this way.

The Fishing Hobby

#35
Well, as luck would have it, I just happened to give the drag on the Little Shimano MLX10 one heck of a workout today and it did its job perfectly. We were staying at a place on a lake for the holiday weekend and the kids wanted to do some bream fishing off the dock. Sounded like fun to me, so I grabbed my smallest ultralight setup (MLX10 on an old Quantum Micro rod) and we caught a lot of bream on worms and then I hooked up with this guy and the fight was on. I had to lean over the dock to grab him because my 4lb line would have probably broken if I had tried to lift him out of the water. Always a nice suprise to hook into a good cat while panfishing. Took a while but it was worth the work and a lot of fun.
I wear a size 14 shoe for reference. My daughter put her hand down for one of the pics.

The Fishing Hobby

Well I have been saying MLX10, it is a MLX100. Tiny little rascal.

happyhooker

Thanks, TFH, for the drag info. Noting for further use.  I bet you had a blast w/ that UL setup and the cat.  I have a Shimano AXUL-S that is the smallest serious spinning reel I've ever seen; I'll have to see how it compares size-wise to the MLX 100--maybe a younger brother; the MLX must be metal-bodied & if I recall, the AXUL-S is plastic.

Happy Holiday!!

The Fishing Hobby

That was a lot of fun. I looked up the AXUL-S on eBay and ran across an old listing that was selling an AXUL-S with an MLZ10 which is the same reel as the MLX100 but a different color. The MLZ and MLX are both aluminum bodied reels. Looks like the AXUL-S is definitely the younger brother of the other 2. Almost identical.

festus

Interesting old thread to resurrect 5 months later.

I've been seeing these Shakespeare Ambidex pop up on ebay from time to time.  Cool looking attractive reels, does anybody own one of these? Some are baby blue, others gold, but I particulary like this gold and burgundy color.  Just wondering, I never remember seeing any of these, at least here in the Southeastern United States.  Made in Japan, were they even sold here? They appear to have metal bodies, no plastic or graphite.

The Fishing Hobby

Quote from: festus on April 25, 2018, 10:18:16 PM
Interesting old thread to resurrect 5 months later.

I've been seeing these Shakespeare Ambidex pop up on ebay from time to time.  Cool looking attractive reels, does anybody own one of these? Some are baby blue, others gold, but I particulary like this gold and burgundy color.  Just wondering, I never remember seeing any of these, at least here in the Southeastern United States.  Made in Japan, were they even sold here? They appear to have metal bodies, no plastic or graphite.
I have a similar reel (Shakespeare 2400) that is in one of the first posts in this thread. It is baby blue. Good quality reel!

festus

I went back to the first of this thread and found your's.  Yes, I like them.  Still don't ever remember seeing one around here, apparently they weren't sold much in the East Tennessee area. some friends owned a sporting goods store in the 1960s through about 1995 and I was in there 3-4 times a week and never recall seeing them.  They had the biggest selection around.

The Fishing Hobby

I like those you posted a picture of. Nice color scheme. I picked mine up on eBay but I have since seen them locally (Arkansas) in some flea markets.

Midway Tommy

They're from the mid '70s & somewhat sought after, especially the 2499 UL. Never had one in my hand, though, since I don't collect or use many Japanese made reels.
Love those open face spinning reels! (Especially ABU & ABU/Zebco Cardinals)

Tommy D (ORCA), NE



Favorite Activity? ............... In our boat fishing
RELAXING w/ MY BEST FRIEND (My wife Bonnie)

happyhooker

I concur--nice looking reels--& also good to hear they sound like good quality too.

Frank