Stopped by the club for Monday night fly tying. A couple of my buddies pointed me to the free table. Only some junk rods but they thought I would be interested in an old Fre-Line sidewinder spinning reel.
Little did they know I have been on the lookout for lightweight multipliers. And if it doesn’t say Orvis, most of these guys look the other way.
Not cosmetically perfect, but took it home tonight, stripped off the rock hard line and cleaned and lubricated it. Mechanically it seems as good as when it was made. No signs of wear on the internals. No noticeable end play. Very light. The spool seems a little delicate. Just a rolled piece of thin aluminum. Not even welded at the seam. But definitely a keeper and the price was right.
I will admit that the chrome washer on aluminum with the brass thrust pin set up reminds me of some of the funky Brit engineering on my 1960s Triumph bikes. Sketchy at best. And probably limited mileage before needing a rebuild.
But this isn’t going to me my daily beater either.

By the way. The Fre-line turned out to be an interesting reel also. A 10B single action. A little darker maroon than the Bronson and probably a 1952-1955 Wright and McGill version. Working perfectly. I might just put both of them on my Fenwick 340-4 which also has maroon reel seat at the same time and just admire them. Then take them both fishing.



This excerpt is from the ORCA site.
“ The “Multi-Royal” No.380 was also introduced by Bronson in 1951. It would be their highest grade fly reel. It had a 2-1/2-to-1 gear ratio and also finished in maroon and chrome. A photo of the original listing is shown below. These would only sell until about 1957 or so, the most short-lived of any Bronson fly model. ”

I would tend to agree. I would not want to actually use the reel to wind in a fish. Maybe pick up line quickly. I noticed when cleaning the spool with Corrosion X, a paper towel and light index finger pressure that the gears stalled quite easily.
Just did a quick test. One dry finger on the center tube or the gear side wall, not the perforated side will stop this dead.

But from a mechanic’s viewpoint, the gearing makes this 2-1/2 times faster but also 2-1/2 times less winding force than a 1-1 ratio.
Haven’t looked at the guts on a Martin but having the crank handle as a direct drive on the primary gear seems to be a much better design.

That’s what I meant. You get less less torque to the line compared to how much force you put into it. Too much and probably distort the spool beyond recovery.

What do you recommend for light weight multipliers? Not planning on on hooking large fish. Just to play with. Maybe small streamers for pan fish.

Thanks. Will start looking.

Just found a nice clean Young 1505 with spare spool. Gears and pawls look crisp. Coming from England to States so will be a couple of weeks.
The MG10s were all beaten, rusty and expensive.
Thanks again for the advice.

I had 3 of those reels NOS in the boxes and easily sold them all for decent money online.I was going to keep one but all the reviews of these reels was ,well, not very good.Unless i accidently hook a large carp i rarely have a fish on the reel.More fun playing them by hand.A reel with a decent drag is really all i would ever want.Even in the salt a fish running at you are never going to pick up the slack quick enough.I have been nearly spooled a couple times by big carp and i broke them off in time.It took FOREVER to reel in all that backing and then the fly line.A multiplier may be would have been useful.

I see your point BD.

I found a reasonable priced MG 72 and pretty good shape. How does it compare to the MG10?

Thanks

Lots of interesting reels in that thread. I noticed you also collect baitcasters. I collect pre War ll baitcasters but until I recently started fly fishing regularly used my “modern” narrow spool Supremes for bass fishing with modern rods. Kept 3-4 always rigged with with mono or braid for different applications

I have that same model Redifor that is in your photo. Serial No 5823. Even the crank knob matches.

I did get the point of the thread. And I only buy what I am sure I want.

You might of missed the part about me getting a lot of stuff for free.

Not going to miss any opportunity to learn about something that I wasn’t aware of previously. I can put the Bronson back on the free table, cleaned and lubricated for the next guy to discover. One man’s junk….

I took your advice on the Young multiplier without question.
With only two available, the nice one with a spare spool, and less than the other one, 46 people watching it and less than what I would pay taking a buddy out to dinner.

No brainer IMHO.

On the fence about paying $200 for a beat MG10, I went with the $39 MG72 from a guy who lives 2 towns away. If I decide the 3-1 gears are more desirable than the 2:1 Young, then I can wait for a good deal on a mint MG10. Meanwhile, I have enough mint Martins already spooled with lines to fish with. I usually have 3 MG3s in my car at all times. And a stack of rods near the door to grab depending on what I think I might want to cast that day.
I usually decide on a go to rod for a couple of weeks and try to take a couple others that will require different casting techniques.
For me it’s practice, practice, practice as often as possible and as many different ways as I know. And trying to learn new ones.

Sometimes I buy for functionality, sometimes esthetics, and sometimes just for that weird curio to to sit on the shelf or lawn cast.

Unlike some collectors, I never buy as an investment, never sold a piece of fishing gear, and hope that when I am gone that someone else will reap the benefits of my efforts.
My kids will probably sell my motorcycles, train layout and other stuff for a heathy sum.
Probably most likely give the fishing stuff away for pennies on the dollar.
It won’t matter to me then anyway.

I will totally agree with you on that point. I have whole rooms dedicated to hobbies. And I keep my fly rods on an unused king size bed all laid out in a row with the socks and tubes in the corner. Otherwise I would never remember what I have and would probably only use the ones in the hallway near the door.
I have low ceilings so only my bait casters and spinning rods are in racks. Each ready to go.

Back on the subject of bad reel choices. The Orvis Leeda Multiplier arrived today. It was in excellent condition, looked like it was put away a long time ago coated with preservative. Even came with a brand new clear sinking line still in the package.
I am hoping the Young doesn’t suffer from a similar curse. The old tendency for British manufacturers to use lead contaminated zinc for parts that are under stress.
After cleaning, lubricating and spooling a new line, I was gently fine tuning the clicker when I felt that squishy feeling of disintegration due to zinc rot. I can and might eventually fabricate a new part out of billet aluminum after tracking down whatever odd British fine thread tap they used. But a T shaped cast zinc nut pulling two springs under constant tension is planned obsolescence. Only after when it failed, looking at the photos I took before taking it apart, you can see the hair line fracture with the tension completely slacked. And the inside was totally porous and crystalline. Was a great deal at only $50 and at least the line worth something.

Edit

I was just looking at the photo of the Young reels from the auction site. Looks like the Young has a similar mechanism but uses a u shaped formed steel tensioner. Much better. Might copy that design. Much easier to make and less machining.
Or just use the Young instead.