Newell Jigmaster build

[Yogi_fish808]

Hi AT Family,
I stumbled on a stock 500 Jig with SUPER CLEAN plates and chrome rings for a bargain and pulled the trigger. They were perfect candidates to swap into my Jigmaster with a Newell Yellowfin Special kit. The sideplates I had on it worked great but looked worse for wear. I was really surprised just now nice the plates were when they came in, no evidence that the reel was ever fished. As much fun as it is to go all out with modern everything on a jigmaster build its nice to do a throwback build using oldschool parts from newell and a butterscotch power handle. Inside is a different story, all our new upgrades went in...SS Double dog bridge, Gen. 2 sleeve, yoke/eccentric jack, 5:1 gears and Bryan's drag kit.

Tip:A microfiber clothe + burnishing cream brings even more luster out of bakelite plates.

Aloha,
Kyle

Old beat-up plates going out


In with the new

[mhc]

I was really surprised just now nice the plates were when they came in, no evidence that the reel was ever fished.

I think you could be right Kyle, the plates look unused. The Newell kit looks pretty tidy as well - a very nice classic reel.

Mike

[Rothmar2]

Beautiful and Brutal! Great piece.

[Crow]

Very nice !

[Tiddlerbasher]

Love the finish you achieved on those plates - nice build

[Donnyboat]

very nice Kyle thanks for posting. cheers don.

[thorhammer]

Kyle, nice piece. I love those handles and have built a couple of similar rigs. Unfortunately ole-skool Stren Gold is getting unobtanium which looks really cool with it. Those plates are sweet.

John

[foakes]

Excellent skills, Kyle --

Would you mind letting is know what burnishing cream you used?

Applied by hand with a microfiber cloth -- or polished with a buffer? -- or both?

In the old days (maybe 20-25 years ago) I upgraded hundreds of JM's with an Accurate half frame, power handle, upgraded drags from either Newell or Penn, upgraded spool.  Many times I just installed Newell bars and stand in place of the stock stuff, along with an aluminum or Newell spool.

My personal favorite was a green Accurate frame, black stock sideplates, aluminum spool, Penn power crank, upgraded drags, Newell Delrin bearings -- an effective and economical combo spooled with 30 or 40.

Also used Carl's old funky brown delrin screw in bearings.

The Newell bars and stand would run about as much as an Accurate half frame -- so the frame was what I generally recommended.

As we enjoy and appreciate the fabulous plates and parts made by Tom & Ted & Alan -- these original sideplates sure look and perform perfectly with a good frame, bearings, handle, and greased CF upgrades.

I think that sometimes we tend to get carried away, and go overboard on some of our reels --

It is easy to invest $300 to $350 in a Jigmaster -- when all we really need is a nice donor reel, frame, power crank, greased CF's -- and we are good to go.  

Randy has new Tib frames for around $65.

$100 to $125 total?

Plus, we don't need to be so concerned about boat rash on a $350 Jigmaster -- just fish 'em...

However, I really like the complete build-outs using all of the neat stuff we have available from guys like Tom, Alan, Ted, Lou, Randy, and others -- but everything has its place.  Some get used -- some are destined for the shelf -- all personal preference -- and all good.

These are the reels that won the west.

Narrowed Squidders were popular also.

Beautiful work, Kyle!

Best,

Fred

[Yogi_fish808]

Excellent skills, Kyle --

Would you mind letting is know what burnishing cream you used?

Applied by hand with a microfiber cloth -- or polished with a buffer? -- or both?

In the old days (maybe 20-25 years ago) I upgraded hundreds of JM's with an Accurate half frame, power handle, upgraded drags from either Newell or Penn, upgraded spool.  Many times I just installed Newell bars and stand in place of the stock stuff, along with an aluminum or Newell spool.

My personal favorite was a green Accurate frame, black stock sideplates, aluminum spool, Penn power crank, upgraded drags, Newell Delrin bearings -- an effective and economical combo spooled with 30 or 40.

Also used Carl's old funky brown delrin screw in bearings.

The Newell bars and stand would run about as much as an Accurate half frame -- so the frame was what I generally recommended.

As we enjoy and appreciate the fabulous plates and parts made by Tom & Ted & Alan -- these original sideplates sure look and perform perfectly with a good frame, bearings, handle, and greased CF upgrades.

I think that sometimes we tend to get carried away, and go overboard on some of our reels --

It is easy to invest $300 to $350 in a Jigmaster -- when all we really need is a nice donor reel, frame, power crank, greased CF's -- and we are good to go.  

Randy has new Tib frames.

$100 to $125?

Plus, we don't need to be so concerned about boat rash on a $350 Jigmaster -- just fish 'em...

However, I really like the complete build-outs using all of the neat stuff we have available from guys like Tom, Alan, Ted, Lou, Randy, and others -- but everything has its place.  Some get used -- some are destined for the shelf -- all personal preference -- and all good.

These are the reels that won the west.

Narrowed Squidders were popular also.

Beautiful work, Kyle!

Best,

Fred

I used Liberon burnishing cream, no particular reason other than it's what I had. Just applied to a microfiber cloth and rubbed into the bakelite by hand, a buffing wheel and compound/rouge probably would've been even better. Thanks for the compliment on my oldschool build Fred and everyone else!

[RowdyW]

Unfortunately ole-skool Stren Gold is getting unobtanium which looks really cool with it.

John, Stren has replaced it with Catfish Orange. It's available in weights up to 50#'s. Berkley also makes ProSpec Chrome in Blaze Orange from 20 to 80#.            Rudy

[mo65]

   Very nice looking Jigmaster.

[Decker]

Great shine!  Love those butterscotch handles too.

[Yogi_fish808]

Does anyone actually get improved casting with the brown newell "long cast" bushings? Polishing the spool shaft/penn bushings and lubing with tsi 321 seems to out perform the newell ones by a mile.

[handi2]

Super nice clean, slick, looking reel.

The only problem I see is you forgot to polish the brass on the back of the handle

Keith

[Swami805]

I put those bushings in my penn reels with the newell kits back in the day, I think they called them teflon. Couldn't tell for a fact that it improved casting but it seemed to.