Ambassadeur 8500

[Dave Burr]

I've enjoyed reading this as it's brought back many memories of my shore and boat fishing days. The learning curve of a new multiplier until you had the tiniest or even no centrifugal brakes and the long exhausting days spent improving your casting whilst stocking the freezer with mackerel. I eventually bought a 7000 and used it from the beach or in my boat - it was a big favourite, now sadly sold on with the rest of my sea gear.

Didn't the 9000 and maybe some of the other large Abu's have a clutch system that altered the retrieve rate against a running fish? It sounded all wrong to me as a running fish near rocks need no encouragement whatsoever. Abu's were great reels though.

[Wagtail]

As promised Not sure what to do now. Had thought of stripping and repainting, but if it is a relatively scarce reel it seems a shame to do that....

[Old Man River]

Correct Dave..

I had the 10000 two speed, it automatically dropped the gearing if a decent fish was taking line against the clutch, a novel piece of engineering I thought, but tbh I never felt it working whilst I was fishing using the reel, maybe because I never hooked anything that put up such a struggle .

Wagtail that reel looks to have done some hard work over the years ! TBH I dont know what I would do with it, the sideplates have a good deal of paint loss, in fact the worst I have seen on an Abu, the reel crossbars amd reel foot are pitted, the spool looks as though it has some corrosion as well, I dont know what the internals would be like, I would not make any decision myself until I knew what state the gears etc were in and if the spool had any serious corrosion.. in its present state I would strip it down, assess and take it from there, it could probably be re enammeled if you were so inclined, but the pitting on some of the metal looks a bit far gone to be polished out, the spool may well just have salt build up, and it can be removed with care, hopefully underneath it, it is still sound. I noticed that the alloy "Abu " badge is quite corroded, that seems to be a common thing on Abu reels, and as far as I know nothing can be done about it, I have a 6500 with the same problem, in fact I was thinking of removing it entireley and just cleaning and polishing the sideplate underneath the badge , it is on a self coloured alloy sideplate, yours in on an enammeled plate so probably a problem there as well.

In good condition could well be a collectors piece, but as we know collectors can be really critical of any slight blemish .

I think I would probably strip it, clean it , treat the corrosion , and maybe get the sideplates sandblasted hoping they would clean up for a paint job or similar, maybe just polished.

The "reel" person to give you a proper answer would be Evert, the reel magician... some of the resurrections he makes are works of art in themselves.

OMR

[Wagtail]

Thanks for your advice OMR As you can see I haven't tried cleaning at all yet, though it all feels OK mechanically. I have other priorities on the tackle front, so can take my time and think what to do with it

[Dave Burr]

Thanks for your advice OMR As you can see I haven't tried cleaning at all yet, though it all feels OK mechanically. I have other priorities on the tackle front, so can take my time and think what to do with it

Before you do actually delve beneath the shell can I suggest you get a good exploded diagram. I had a cheep Shakespeare multiplier that I once opened only for the entire workings to land in a heap on the carpet via bouncing off any hard surface it could find. The diagram was small and faint and I spent a lot of trial and error hours before getting the hand of it. ABU's come in a much better state as they are in a sort of cassette at each end but once that little Pandora's Box is breached.....

[Wagtail]

Thanks for your advice OMR As you can see I haven't tried cleaning at all yet, though it all feels OK mechanically. I have other priorities on the tackle front, so can take my time and think what to do with it

Before you do actually delve beneath the shell can I suggest you get a good exploded diagram. I had a cheep Shakespeare multiplier that I once opened only for the entire workings to land in a heap on the carpet via bouncing off any hard surface it could find. The diagram was small and faint and I spent a lot of trial and error hours before getting the hand of it. ABU's come in a much better state as they are in a sort of cassette at each end but once that little Pandora's Box is breached.....

Thank you for the sound advice

[Old Man River]

Thanks for your advice OMR As you can see I haven't tried cleaning at all yet, though it all feels OK mechanically. I have other priorities on the tackle front, so can take my time and think what to do with it

Before you do actually delve beneath the shell can I suggest you get a good exploded diagram. I had a cheep Shakespeare multiplier that I once opened only for the entire workings to land in a heap on the carpet via bouncing off any hard surface it could find. The diagram was small and faint and I spent a lot of trial and error hours before getting the hand of it. ABU's come in a much better state as they are in a sort of cassette at each end but once that little Pandora's Box is breached.....

Thank you for the sound advice




This will help, its not as complicated as it looks....

http://realsreels.com/servicing/Ambassa ... 0guide.pdf


OMR

[Wagtail]

Thanks for your advice OMR As you can see I haven't tried cleaning at all yet, though it all feels OK mechanically. I have other priorities on the tackle front, so can take my time and think what to do with it

Before you do actually delve beneath the shell can I suggest you get a good exploded diagram. I had a cheep Shakespeare multiplier that I once opened only for the entire workings to land in a heap on the carpet via bouncing off any hard surface it could find. The diagram was small and faint and I spent a lot of trial and error hours before getting the hand of it. ABU's come in a much better state as they are in a sort of cassette at each end but once that little Pandora's Box is breached.....

Thank you for the sound advice




This will help, its not as complicated as it looks....

http://realsreels.com/servicing/Ambassa ... 0guide.pdf


OMR