ABU Quality Control.
Many thanks as usual to my linguist friend Christian Matevzic
who tirelessly translates Swedish to English so many more ABU
fan's worldwide can appreciate more fully the joy of their
interest.
Here are
two never seen before images from an in house Service manual for
staff.
"The inspection department has the market´s premier instruments
at it´s disposal. Elotester is this ingenious device's name,
which, through it´s perfect signal system with
differently coloured lamps registers measurement deviations by
the thousandth part of a millimetre. There´s nothing in the
production that is left to chance, and it is this purposefulness
and accurateness that gave A.B. Urfabriken´s products their
world wide name and good reputation."
"With a micro hardness tester a materials degree of hardness or
a chromium platings thickness is inspected. Furthermore it can
microphotograph an area with an up to six hundredfold
magnification. To be able to measure the hardness and to inspect
the surface on, for example, a winding cup , which is the
most vital part in a half encapsulated fixed-spool reel, is of
tremendous importance for the reels life expectancy. As the
nylon line has to slide across the winding cup´s edge during the
cast as well as during the retrieving, one can easily understand
the importance of a hard and absolutely flat surface, when
bearing in mind that nylon, due to it´s special characteristics,
amongst other things, is being employed for cutting diamonds."
Some have been critical of Swedish reels going offshore for
production for cost saving.
Where this involves the introduction of plastic parts and very
complicated build and re-build procedures, I am also somewhat
sceptical as I would prefer the all metal construction of
the old days.
My personal experience has been that ABU reels have possibly
improved in quality control over time.
Minor marks and blemishes which were once unavoidable some 35
years ago are now not present at all.
A perfect example may be drip marks on one of the most
collectable of all reel batches ie Ambassadeur 550 CDL B.A.S.S
reels commissioned by Ray Scott in USA from 1977.
When Len Borgstrom was questioned on this , he suggested this
was of the day/era but ..in his words re the process
"Wayne,
I agree with
your
ie "annodization
drippping in the batch"
analyses
of how the spots have happened on the reels.
"Personally
I feel that they should not have passed inspection.
ie (by
today's standards)
There is a possibility that the spots can develop
over time
Regarding the value of the reels with spots, that is
entirely up to the buyer. If you find a misprinted stamp or
coin, the value goes up
Len"
They
are undoubtedly
a sign of how process has improved over 7 decades of production
of the finest reels in the world.
So, I guess if you want one of these,
one contends with such a minor imperfection of the day and grabs
it with both hands!
I know it won't stop me searching
for one! Please contact me......