whrlpool wrote:
Back to Pfuegers, for a while there in the late 1970s and 80s as the LHW preference developed, it was pretty common to see Pfluegers being used LHW without the line guard having been switched or, probably, the directionality of the drag. Default delivery mode of fly reels was RHW, but eventually shifted to LHW. Mid '90s, I seem to remember but could be off quite a few years either way. More specifically, never noticed when or if Medalist default delivery position was ever changed to LHW. Definitely not when I purchased the last two I ever bought new, late 1970s.
The mere discussion of changing retrieves on a Medalist makes me shudder.
I was gifted a beautiful, like new 1494 that had been converted to LHW. The first think I did was switch it back to RHW. As I inserted the tiny ratchet spring back into its burrow, it just disappeared. Gone. Launched. I searched for hours to no avail. I took apart a tire Schrader valve core to get a tiny spring, which was too long and too stiff. After repeatedly cutting it down, refitting it, cutting it down, I finally got it so the reel's outgoing click stops weren't overly strong.
(My one tip from that experience is, if you do use a Schrader valve spring to replace a lost ratchet plunger spring, trim it back a little from the bottom --larger diameter-- end, not the top, smaller diameter end. Otherwise, under compression, the larger diameter spring winds will stack up in the plunger hole, jam under the plunger, and cause excessive resistance on outgoing operation.)
I put that like-new 1494 on a like-new Fenwick FF75. I can step in to the trout stream and, at the same time, step into the past.