Patience paid off, finally acquired one of my holy grails

[tincanary]

Here's the manufacturer of the parts.  https://avail.jp/. If you're using Chrome, it should auto translate to English.  The only two shops that sell Avail products to overseas buyers are Hedgehog Studio and Japan Tackle. 

[tincanary]

The moment of truth!

Here's a before pic, right before I stripped her down.


The brake plate, as you can see, cut from a different loaf of bread than your typical 1500C/2500C.  This guy is more like a Morrum on that end.


The brake plate all cleaned up.


The spool.  Note how there's an E-clip holding the bearing and spur gear.  You can set it up either way, use the black spur gear cup or attach it to the spool.  For the sake of simplicity, I put it on the spool.


Brake plate going back together.


All finished with the new pinion bearing and spring in place.


Ready to put line on!

[tincanary]

Taking this thing apart, I realized how much different it truly is compared to its push-button brethren.  It's interesting because this reel introduces some important features to the small Ambassadeur reels, but these features were only present in a few models, namely the 1600C, 2600C, and 2600C Elite.  When the thumb bar is depressed, it rotates the entire clutch assembly, lifting the pinion yoke.  This is pretty common to low-profile reels, where the cam action engages the pinion.  Second, instead of using posts machined into the bottom of the driveshaft, it uses a kick lever like that of a low profile.  When the handle is turned the reel turns right over.  On the original 2500C and 1500C, the driveshafts either came in one or two post.  A one post would need a complete turn of the handle to engage the spool, and the two post half a turn.  This 1600C is instant, right when you need it.  For as similar to the others as it looks, it was an evolutionary move for this platform and thus shares features with the Morrum.

Here's a list of parts I put in it.

Avail double bearing level wind
Avail AMB1520R spool
Avail pinion bearing
Avail 6.1:1 gear set (takes it from 18IPT to 23IPT)
Hedgehog Air spool bearings
Avail ported double bearing idler gear
Avail lightweight line guide

[thorhammer]

Spectacular!

[thorhammer]

I tell ya what it really boggles my mind how a reel like this with like a total of 500 units ever made can have a big ol' pile of aftermarket upgrades, but if I wanna upgrade my very common 5000C I can put a universal fit handle on, and I can do drags. And that's about it. Makes no sense to me.

You're making the right choice to tune and fish it.l though. Unless you're struggling with rent the profit you can make on the flip is irrelevant because you'll never get another chance like this but will have other chances to make money. and unless you already have a museum who needs a shelf piece? Go throw some lures.

We can take to another thread so as not to hijack Bob's excellent build, but you aren't looking  in the right place....you can build a 500 dollar 5000 or 6000 or whatever if you so wish...I talked to Bob for about an hour one evening all things Ambassadeur, spellbound. He can tell you about anything you might want to do.

[tincanary]

I tell ya what it really boggles my mind how a reel like this with like a total of 500 units ever made can have a big ol' pile of aftermarket upgrades, but if I wanna upgrade my very common 5000C I can put a universal fit handle on, and I can do drags. And that's about it. Makes no sense to me.

You're making the right choice to tune and fish it.l though. Unless you're struggling with rent the profit you can make on the flip is irrelevant because you'll never get another chance like this but will have other chances to make money. and unless you already have a museum who needs a shelf piece? Go throw some lures.

We can take to another thread so as not to hijack Bob's excellent build, but you aren't looking  in the right place....you can build a 500 dollar 5000 or 6000 or whatever if you so wish...I talked to Bob for about an hour one evening all things Ambassadeur, spellbound. He can tell you about anything you might want to do.

My brain is always ripe for the pickin'.  What I love most about the Ambassadeur platform is the near infinite customizability.  They are more responsive to tuning and modifications than most other baitcast reels and can be tailored exactly as one would see fit. 

[thorhammer]

You raise a good point- very few upgrades outside of drags and bearings for anything else; a few Daiwa pieces. Abu, on the other hand, has lots of bits and a lot are interchangeable with Akios and Rocket platforms. The FS2 is really an Ambassadeur deluxe monomag, really. I sent Jason a list of places to spend lots of money on ceramic bearings, billet shuttle frames, 18K gold plated stud / cap kits, etc.         

[tincanary]

Drew first blood with the 1600C yesterday morning.  White bass were in thick in the canals of Lake St Clair, landed close to 30 between 8am and 11am, just had to follow where they were boiling at the surface in their feeding frenzy.  What a hoot to catch, more fight than a largemouth and harder runs than a smallmouth.  A very overlooked gamefish in my neck of the woods.

[thorhammer]

Nice! I miss them. Used to have them in our lake chain in the 90's but I think between the white perch and blue cats exploding they got outcompeted. Haven't seen one in 20 years.

[JasonGotaProblem]

Very nice. So what were you throwing and how far were you throwing it?

[tincanary]

Very nice. So what were you throwing and how far were you throwing it?

1/8 ball head jig with a 3" Powerbait minnow, total weight of about 5g, a little less than 3/16 total weight.  I will use this reel mostly for trout, easier to learn a reel in the wide open than it is the confines of an overgrown creek like I usually fish lol

[tincanary]

Nice! I miss them. Used to have them in our lake chain in the 90's but I think between the white perch and blue cats exploding they got outcompeted. Haven't seen one in 20 years.

We have a very nice run about May of every year.  Thousands upon thousands in enormous schools that eat anything in their wake.  The piers along the Detroit River get packed with people catching multiple limits per day, and the walleye fishermen get very upset because they can't keep bait on the hook lol

[DougK]

beautiful, thank you for showing us.. a rarity indeed.

My 4600C4 with thumb bar has yet another brake plate design, but it's also an instant pickup.

just acquired a 3500C in ratty shape. Now I have to decide if I'm going to spend the $100 on an Avail spool.. probably will, just takes a bit to get my nerve up to spend more than the reel cost on a spool ;-)

caught my first white bass ever this year, they were swirling around the shallows in a lake where I'd gone to find carp. The white bass distracted me thoroughly, catching them on a fly was lots of fun.