Reel Repair by Alan Tani

I thought it would be fun to loosely recreate the original "99" Albacore Special, sometimes attributed to Jerry Morris in SoCal around the time I was a kid (or maybe before).  So, here it is, a Penn 99 left side plate, right-side Jigmaster side plate with upgraded internals (including a 3.7:1 steel main gear and pinion combo), a mid-sized Tib frame and spool.  I got lucky on this one and the spool spins really well.  Now, hoping to get on a boat soon for the excellent offshore tuna fishing we're having.

I wish I had one!

Wow!  Pretty cool.  Dominick

Very nice, Gman, and double doged to boot. I really like it. I'm sure the old timers from that era would have been in awe.

It would be a kick to build one of these. Is the left side plate from a Silver Beach or a Long Beach? And, is the Tiburon frame a P20 or a P29?

~A~

Hi, Aiala.  The left side plate is from a Silver Beach, and I used a P29 frame.  The screws for the posts and base on the 99 left side-plate do not align with all of the Jigmaster's or with the P29 frame's screw holes.  So, I used a dremel tool to drill new holes in the 99 side plate that correspond to those of the Jigmaster, and replaced the 99's left side rings with two Jigmaster left side rings.  Not super easy to do, but the result is a lot of fun.

Here's a couple of additional pictures.

Regards,

Gareth

Nice work & reel Gman - well done .

That's one gorgeous reel Gman. Nice to see these old babies come back to life.

Beautiful reel Gman! Brings back some memories as my wife and I flew down from Anchorage in fall of 1989 for our first LR trip ... a 10 day couples trip on the RP. Met Jerry Morris at the showroom of the old Sabre factory and we had lunch. He was a true innovator and as knowledgable about the SoCal tackle and LR scene as anyone, he took us under his wing and was a true gentleman. Sadly, he passed away less than two years after we met. The Abacore special is just one of his contributions , go fish that baby!

I like your style  Very nice

That's a Beaut!

nice! are the gears both Penn parts? If so will you tell me the part #s, thanks!

The gears are Penn parts.  I sourced them from a very old 112h 3/0 Senator.  The pinion is a 13-99, which I don't think that you can find new today.  The main gear is a 5-500, but is steel (but not not stainless). You can find both on the big auction site if you hunt around, though you usually need to purchase the entire sideplate and internals of an old jigmaster. Black Pearl (Alan Chui) will be coming out with a 5:1 stainless steel main and pinion gear set for the Jigmaster any day now.

thanks much Gman!

I have a Newell Albacore Special which uses all Jigmaster parts. The "Truest" way to do this would be to use a Newell YTS frame, Albacore Special (112H), a Jigmaster outer right side plate and the rest of the parts from a 99. If it were a casting reel then a Newell 99 spool wouldn't hurt. I could do this now except that would mean tearing apart a perfectly good YTS and I'm not about to do that when I have a narrowed Jigmaster, even though it would be cool.
Ron