Reel Repair by Alan Tani

Quote from: RamseyReelRepair on August 20, 2018, 12:48:51 AM
Am I doing something wrong or am I just not being patient?

it's taken me about 20 years...... 

In my area, there was a huge void. I initially started because I had to. One thing led to another. I don't have a huge operation but I don't want one. I do a few hundred reels a year and that's good for me. I wouldn't want much more.

I will throw this out there, once you get somewhat established, I'd recommend you become selective. What I mean is, don't waste your time and resources on reels that are too far gone. Be super polite but don't spin your wheels on a lost cause. At first, I fell into that trap because I was trying to build something from nothing. Eventually, you'll have the experience to look at a reel and determine if it's worth it for you and also for the customer. I'm not the kind of guy that likes giving a customer a reel back that retails $100 new but needs $80 worth of work and parts.

Quote from: FatTuna on August 22, 2018, 08:08:47 AM
....once you get somewhat established, I'd recommend you become selective....

There's a guy here in southern BC like that his website out & out tells people with spinning reels not to bother just buy another one.

While im not a  reel   repair man,  if     reducing  capital  expenditures    is important,  think   about  not   stocking parts   for  penns   that   cost more then   couple bucks.  Let   Scotts   do  that   for   you  and  use  their   quick  service as   your inventory  of   spares. At  least  until   you  get   some   volume  built  up. Just  sayin

Quote from: whalebreath on August 22, 2018, 01:20:41 PM

Quote from: FatTuna on August 22, 2018, 08:08:47 AM
....once you get somewhat established, I'd recommend you become selective....

There's a guy here in southern BC like that his website out & out tells people with spinning reels not to bother just buy another one.

That is attitude that I hope I don't get, after all the new spinning reels that are on the market today as well as there popularity expatiation. I he has enough business to do that. .

Joe   

Wow so I talked with the owner at the tackle store and offered to do a few of his reels free. He said he didn't have any right now but asked for a card and said he would send everyone my way because I'm the closest place within an 45 minutes to an hour. That being said I have 10 reels lined up in the next week. 3 Shimano tekota 500lc and 7 ambassadeur 7000. Anything I should lookout for? I believe those Abu parts are hard to get right?

i was up in ilwaco, washington, last week.  big harbor, lots of fishing, nobody fixes fishing reels! 

That's crazy! What do they do their them out and buy I need one when something goes wrong? Did you offer your services?

West

We are a full time reel shop that has been in business for 34 years and the best advise I could give you is go above and beyond for your customers and word will get out and you'll have more than you can handle. Handing out business cards and talking to tackle shop owners is great and will help you get going but the real business will come from word of mouth. It takes time but if the work is good it will come.

Well, based on West's location ( Googlemaps ), I pretty sure that 95% of the reels he will be seeing are freshwater.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Chatsworth,+GA+30705/@34.78701,-87.3521757,7.25z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x885fc2b67e45d215:0x35ee68224f3d8bc3!8m2!3d34.7659145!4d-84.7699385

I suggest contacting local fishing clubs, and becoming a sponsor, if possible, in local fishing tournaments . . . Maybe offer "reel service" as a Prize ?

Tight Lines !

Nice ideas I'll have to look into sponsoring. There are a bunch of guys that go to Florida fishing around here.

West

Quote from: RamseyReelRepair on August 31, 2018, 06:29:18 PM
Nice ideas I'll have to look into sponsoring. There are a bunch of guys that go to Florida fishing around here.

West

West,

One other thing . . .

Since you are so far from the ocean, it might be a good idea to have photo's of Freshwater reels on your website, rather than Saltwater reels.

https://www.ramseyreelrepair.com/gallery

Tight Lines !

Thanks that's a good idea except I've only had one freshwater reel come thru recently that I got a pic of and it was an pflueger trion that was practically new. Weirdly enough all the reels I've been getting have been salt reels that guys take to Florida. It's about an 8 hour drive to Mexico beach from here. I'll definitely throw up some freshwater reel pics as I get them.

West

Quote from: RamseyReelRepair on September 01, 2018, 05:30:55 AM
Thanks that's a good idea except I've only had one freshwater reel come thru recently that I got a pic of and it was an pflueger trion that was practically new. Weirdly enough all the reels I've been getting have been salt reels that guys take to Florida. It's about an 8 hour drive to Mexico beach from here. I'll definitely throw up some freshwater reel pics as I get them.

West

West,

Once you start sponsoring in local fishing tournaments ( freshwater, naturally ), I think you'll start getting a lot of freshwater reels coming in.

I looked on Googlemaps, because I was curious . . . You're approximately 350 miles inland.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Savannah,+GA/357+Red+Rd,+Chatsworth,+GA+30705/@33.3994943,-84.052647,8z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m13!4m12!1m5!1m1!1s0x88fb75fc78f20659:0x4e0c6751036020bc!2m2!1d-81.091203!2d32.0808989!1m5!1m1!1s0x885fe81881670dcb:0xdfeecef3357c8354!2m2!1d-84.7526726!2d34.7417007

Tight Lines !

I agree that if I sponsor freshwater I'll start getting freshwater and when I do I'll start posting those pics but in the gallery is where I post reels we have worked on which have just been saltwater reels basically. www.ramseyreelrepair.com/gallery

West