| If you have found your
way here, then you are obviously a fan of
A.B.Urfabriken's
large product line. This fine purveyor of angling equipment has
a long and glorious history of over 80 years. Little did the
Borgstroms' realize the wonderful progression from watches and
taxi meters to world domination of angling equipment, that was
in store for them, nor the difficult and trying times to reach
this pinnacle of achievement. |
Thanks Dr Rob for this picture. |
ABU was the first of
numerous fishing companies in Sweden. Situated in the south of
Sweden at Svangta on the Morrum River, eventually they were the
last company left after their growth due to high quality product
allowed them to take over. My friend Rikk, whom I believe has
the
finest non ABU/Record Antique fishing reel
website in the world, has provided me with some
beautiful images of some of these other reel company products.
Arjon, Rainbow, Victory, Radius, General Nordic, and Malt Blohm
are just some of the contenders for the crown of biggest and
best fishing company in
Sweden. Scans of many beautiful old
antique photos/advertizing material are linked above for these
manufacturers.
Old Record and ABU advertizing images
can be found linked here.
ABU's obvious build
quality led to the development of symbiotic relationships in
other countries, one of which I'm just beginning to learn about
now, ie Zebco in the USA. Mr Clinton Beeler is bringing me up to
speed on this interesting expansion to ABU's products in the
USA.
Zebco contribution to ABU's USA expansion
is here.
I
am seeking to research more about places other than Sweden were
ABU equipment was made in the early days.
Outsourcing
information to date is here.
 |
I hope, as a worthy
Ambassadeur of ABU,
I am able to share some of my knowledge about ABU and that you
feel you would like to communicate with me and a larger group of
ABU fans via the
Guestbook. I realize I am but
one among many, but just that I have set about doing what I have
wanted to achieve for many years.
Sadly
Our Forums
have had to be removed due to my inability to control
bad language, porn, un-solicited advertisements being
placed by individuals as well as web crawling robots!
|
| I have been an avid
user of many of these
Swedish ABU products for
over 36 years (and an admirer of the
Golden Reels) and I hope to both learn from others and also
enthuse others, maybe,
beginning fishers who have
not had the good fortune to be exposed to this marque and would
value the
ideas and techniques
expressed here.
Historically fishing as a
sport has been around for a very long time but ABU took it to a
new high for the masses! |
 |
 |
Abu never forgot the importance of educating its dealers
throughout is world wide network. This ranged from factory
visits, to special
catalog inserts as well as
great advertizing materials for the shopfronts. These items are
quite rare to find and are very desirable in the eyes as
collectors.
 |
The notion or concept of
Balanced Tackle
1,
2,
3
, I
attribute to ABU over the years from 1940's to the present, and this finesse allows use to be precise, as
well as extreme in distance and accuracy of casting. For those
who would like an
X-ray view of these reels
to appreciate their inner workings, look no further courtesy of
Tight Lines 1974.
Full acknowledgement of the assistance I have received to
collate the the information on this website is given to all the
Books,
catalogues,
websites,
other unpublished Abuholic friends as well as my frequent
buying and using all types of ABU equipment. It has developed
into my small, used but well-loved
collection.
This is constantly being expanded by
trading and buying from
new and old friends.
|
Older
articles from the ABU catalogs mentioned above
are some of my favourite fishing reads. I have never read or
seen a Garcia catalog from the USA,
rather just heard of them. I would love to read some of
the older ABU Garcia from the 60/80's if anyone has some for sale or maybe
trade (or even loan) or some beautiful Australian Fishing
magazines that are old or very current? Thanks
Frank for help with the Aussie catalogs to appear here
soon! |
 |
My ever expanding
ABU wish list to be
acquired over time is worth looking at if you have a reel, rod,
lure, catalog or piece of Record or ABU memorabilia to trade
or sell.
 |
ABU fishing lines
such as Abulon I
have had very little to do with ; I guess primarily
because it was not available or actively marketed where I lived
in rural Australia. Anyone very knowledgeable on this subject
and who wishes to contribute and document this aspect of ABU
for the website, I would greatly appreciate. |
Please enjoy my
ABU experiences , indeed,
feel welcome to contribute your own experiences. As a community
of ABU fans, we should share these moments with all.
In the fullness of time I hope to expand this to include the
main topic of why we all love our ABU reels, namely a section
dedicated to
Fish around the World. Pictures, descriptions,
methods, conservation, bag limits, closed seasons, preparation
and recipes if our members contribute sufficient information.
It's not all at my fingertips and I wish to learn too, so please
submit details of what you can share with our ABU network!
The major sections of this website are accessed from here or
the buttons to the left. It would be
wonderful to have this site " G " rated so that it is suitable
to educate the young also! One day the
forums may come back when I understand how to get rid of
unsolicited , unsuitable posts.