MaggotDrowner wrote: ↑Sat Nov 04, 2017 11:50 am My public thanks to Rob, even if I have said it in a private message.
Rob, you should get out there with those rods and give them a whirl.
I've just gone back and looked at the dates these reels were made.
My reel has the initials RMS and was therefore made by Robert Marshall Scott who was employed by Hardy's for a period of 51 years between 1916 and 1967.
The online dates for Altex manufacture are:
Altex No. 1 Fixed Spool (1932 -1966)
Altex No. 2 Fixed Spool (1932 - 1966)
Altex No. 3 Fixed Spool (1935 - 1963)
This means my reel is is at least 51 years old or possibly as old as 85. If that spring was original it must have had some hammer over the years.
Jack,
Which model/mark do you have – that should help narrow down the build date.