Okay let's hear it.. Abu Garcia or Lew's?

[Dalleinf]

No comparison. Ever.
One company has produced some of the most sought after reels in history. Several books have been written just about ABU reels.
Lews who?

Lew Childre to be exact. While I don’t disagree with you, Childre’s exploration of quality components in Japan and marrying the US/Japanese markets is actually quite an interesting history also.

Thanks, I will read his story. I am biased by my Scandinavian heritage although Danes (me) and Swedes (ABU) have fought their share of wars...

[Cal]

Given a choice, based on my personal experience that may or may not have to do with actual performance of the product, it's Abu.

[Johnny A]

No comparison. Ever.
One company has produced some of the most sought after reels in history. Several books have been written just about ABU reels.
Lews who?

Lew Childre to be exact. While I don’t disagree with you, Childre’s exploration of quality components in Japan and marrying the US/Japanese markets is actually quite an interesting history also.

Any connection between the Lew’s of the 70’s and the Lew’s of today is purely coincidental.

[Polkfish1]

No comparison. Ever.
One company has produced some of the most sought after reels in history. Several books have been written just about ABU reels.
Lews who?

Lew Childre to be exact. While I don’t disagree with you, Childre’s exploration of quality components in Japan and marrying the US/Japanese markets is actually quite an interesting history also.

Thanks, I will read his story. I am biased by my Scandinavian heritage although Danes (me) and Swedes (ABU) have fought their share of wars...

I think Lew Childre’s greater legacy is in brining rod innovation from Japan to the US than with reels. There was a re-release of some Speed Sticks last year (by Tenryu, I think) that was supposed to be an ode to the original that Aquaftm posted on the forum. Looked cool and it clued me into this history of the Lew’s brand.

[Johnny A]

No comparison. Ever.
One company has produced some of the most sought after reels in history. Several books have been written just about ABU reels.
Lews who?

Lew Childre to be exact. While I don’t disagree with you, Childre’s exploration of quality components in Japan and marrying the US/Japanese markets is actually quite an interesting history also.

Thanks, I will read his story. I am biased by my Scandinavian heritage although Danes (me) and Swedes (ABU) have fought their share of wars...

I think Lew Childre’s greater legacy is in brining rod innovation from Japan to the US than with reels. There was a re-release of some Speed Sticks last year (by Tenryu, I think) that was supposed to be an ode to the original that Aquaftm posted on the forum. Looked cool and it clued me into this history of the Lew’s brand.

Childre’s Speed Spool reels were made first by Shimano, then Ryobi, as someone mentioned. Those Speed Spool reels were very good. Daiwa, at the time, was basically taking Abu designs and manufacturing Daiwa badged reels. They say, I don’t know how true it is, the parts from a Daiwa Millionaire and the Abu 5000 were interchangeable.
But back to Lew’s, they were the Enthusiast reels of the time.

[Polkfish1]

No comparison. Ever.
One company has produced some of the most sought after reels in history. Several books have been written just about ABU reels.
Lews who?

Lew Childre to be exact. While I don’t disagree with you, Childre’s exploration of quality components in Japan and marrying the US/Japanese markets is actually quite an interesting history also.

Thanks, I will read his story. I am biased by my Scandinavian heritage although Danes (me) and Swedes (ABU) have fought their share of wars...

I think Lew Childre’s greater legacy is in brining rod innovation from Japan to the US than with reels. There was a re-release of some Speed Sticks last year (by Tenryu, I think) that was supposed to be an ode to the original that Aquaftm posted on the forum. Looked cool and it clued me into this history of the Lew’s brand.

Childre’s Speed Spool reels were made first by Shimano, then Ryobi, as someone mentioned. Those Speed Spool reels were very good. Daiwa, at the time, was basically taking Abu designs and manufacturing Daiwa badged reels. They say, I don’t know how true it is, the parts from a Daiwa Millionaire and the Abu 5000 were interchangeable.
But back to Lew’s, they were the Enthusiast reels of the time.

Very cool info.

[hoohoorjoo]

No comparison. Ever.
One company has produced some of the most sought after reels in history. Several books have been written just about ABU reels.
Lews who?

Lew Childre to be exact. While I don’t disagree with you, Childre’s exploration of quality components in Japan and marrying the US/Japanese markets is actually quite an interesting history also.

Thanks, I will read his story. I am biased by my Scandinavian heritage although Danes (me) and Swedes (ABU) have fought their share of wars...

I think Lew Childre’s greater legacy is in brining rod innovation from Japan to the US than with reels. There was a re-release of some Speed Sticks last year (by Tenryu, I think) that was supposed to be an ode to the original that Aquaftm posted on the forum. Looked cool and it clued me into this history of the Lew’s brand.

Childre’s Speed Spool reels were made first by Shimano, then Ryobi, as someone mentioned. Those Speed Spool reels were very good. Daiwa, at the time, was basically taking Abu designs and manufacturing Daiwa badged reels. They say, I don’t know how true it is, the parts from a Daiwa Millionaire and the Abu 5000 were interchangeable.
But back to Lew’s, they were the Enthusiast reels of the time.

Johnny, you're dead on. Abu's people brought a reel tech with them to the patent dispute meeting. The tech took a Daiwa Millionaire and an Abu 5500c reel apart, raked the parts together in a big pile and put together 2 complete, functional reels while randomly picking up pieces from the pile. Daiwa signed a cease and desist order immediately afterwards, with patent officials present.

[Johnny A]

Lew Childre to be exact. While I don’t disagree with you, Childre’s exploration of quality components in Japan and marrying the US/Japanese markets is actually quite an interesting history also.

Thanks, I will read his story. I am biased by my Scandinavian heritage although Danes (me) and Swedes (ABU) have fought their share of wars...

I think Lew Childre’s greater legacy is in brining rod innovation from Japan to the US than with reels. There was a re-release of some Speed Sticks last year (by Tenryu, I think) that was supposed to be an ode to the original that Aquaftm posted on the forum. Looked cool and it clued me into this history of the Lew’s brand.

Childre’s Speed Spool reels were made first by Shimano, then Ryobi, as someone mentioned. Those Speed Spool reels were very good. Daiwa, at the time, was basically taking Abu designs and manufacturing Daiwa badged reels. They say, I don’t know how true it is, the parts from a Daiwa Millionaire and the Abu 5000 were interchangeable.
But back to Lew’s, they were the Enthusiast reels of the time.

Johnny, you're dead on. Abu's people brought a reel tech with them to the patent dispute meeting. The tech took a Daiwa Millionaire and an Abu 5500c reel apart, raked the parts together in a big pile and put together 2 complete, functional reels while randomly picking up pieces from the pile. Daiwa signed a cease and desist order immediately afterwards, with patent officials present.

A lot of people who only know the current Abu, may not be aware of the cutting edge stuff they were trying to do. Some failed, other stuff was done better by other manufacturers, some stuff stuck and prospered.

[Polkfish1]

Lew Childre to be exact. While I don’t disagree with you, Childre’s exploration of quality components in Japan and marrying the US/Japanese markets is actually quite an interesting history also.

Thanks, I will read his story. I am biased by my Scandinavian heritage although Danes (me) and Swedes (ABU) have fought their share of wars...

I think Lew Childre’s greater legacy is in brining rod innovation from Japan to the US than with reels. There was a re-release of some Speed Sticks last year (by Tenryu, I think) that was supposed to be an ode to the original that Aquaftm posted on the forum. Looked cool and it clued me into this history of the Lew’s brand.

Childre’s Speed Spool reels were made first by Shimano, then Ryobi, as someone mentioned. Those Speed Spool reels were very good. Daiwa, at the time, was basically taking Abu designs and manufacturing Daiwa badged reels. They say, I don’t know how true it is, the parts from a Daiwa Millionaire and the Abu 5000 were interchangeable.
But back to Lew’s, they were the Enthusiast reels of the time.

Very cool info.

Took a quick peak at the bay:

NIB BB2

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-ULTRA-RARE ... 67f6ba6be1

[Dalleinf]

I often search for small ambassadeurs:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Abugarcia-Amba ... 890.l49292

I wonder why ABU do not make more 1000-2000 size reels

[Dalleinf]

Prices are just...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mint-Abu-Ambas ... 890.l49292

[Johnny A]

Thanks, I will read his story. I am biased by my Scandinavian heritage although Danes (me) and Swedes (ABU) have fought their share of wars...

I think Lew Childre’s greater legacy is in brining rod innovation from Japan to the US than with reels. There was a re-release of some Speed Sticks last year (by Tenryu, I think) that was supposed to be an ode to the original that Aquaftm posted on the forum. Looked cool and it clued me into this history of the Lew’s brand.

Childre’s Speed Spool reels were made first by Shimano, then Ryobi, as someone mentioned. Those Speed Spool reels were very good. Daiwa, at the time, was basically taking Abu designs and manufacturing Daiwa badged reels. They say, I don’t know how true it is, the parts from a Daiwa Millionaire and the Abu 5000 were interchangeable.
But back to Lew’s, they were the Enthusiast reels of the time.

Very cool info.

Took a quick peak at the bay:

NIB BB2

https://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-ULTRA-RARE ... 67f6ba6be1

What happened with Lew’s .... Shimano —-> Ryobi ——> Browning ‘nuf said!

[Cal]

Prices are just...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Mint-Abu-Ambas ... 890.l49292

People can ask whatever price they think something will move on that site, but until a bid is made or in this case the option to buy is exercised, it's just an ask.

[tincanary]

I often search for small ambassadeurs:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Abugarcia-Amba ... 890.l49292

I wonder why ABU do not make more 1000-2000 size reels

I was told it has to do more with Pure Fishing than it does Abu themselves. The eBay seller Cardinalparts gets a lot of his products direct from Sweden and I once asked if he could get me a 2500C. Nope, haven't been made since 2012. Pure Fishing decided to do away with it out of lack of demand. Most of the 1500C and 2500C variants made from the early 90s onward were made in very small runs, often less than a few hundred for the Japanese market only.

I gave up looking for a nicer one at a price I was comfortable with. 20 years ago, before I got into fishing with light tackle you could get them very, very cheap. Hell, Abu even recently discontinued the 4000 sizes, probably because it sold very few compared to their bass sized Revos.

[Johnny A]

I often search for small ambassadeurs:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Abugarcia-Amba ... 890.l49292

I wonder why ABU do not make more 1000-2000 size reels

I was told it has to do more with Pure Fishing than it does Abu themselves. The eBay seller Cardinalparts gets a lot of his products direct from Sweden and I once asked if he could get me a 2500C. Nope, haven't been made since 2012. Pure Fishing decided to do away with it out of lack of demand. Most of the 1500C and 2500C variants made from the early 90s onward were made in very small runs, often less than a few hundred for the Japanese market only.

I gave up looking for a nicer one at a price I was comfortable with. 20 years ago, before I got into fishing with light tackle you could get them very, very cheap. Hell, Abu even recently discontinued the 4000 sizes, probably because it sold very few compared to their bass sized Revos.

The 4500C was a kick ass crankin’ reel! The thumbar ruined it