I have come red square side 5000 that are 30 or more year old.
They work flawlessly most don't look like much but still catch catfish well.
The Chinese reels are pure junk, look at the post in the catfish section.
I have a C3 and I put in 6.21 gears in it.
It is amazing the parts and upgrades you can get for these reels.
I would rather rebuild a 20+ year old SWEDISH reel than buy Junk Abu's.

I've even recently ordered parts for my mid 70s 5001c. I striped the the threads on the crankshaft by not realizing they were right handed. D'oh.

I don't think the C3's are a dying breed. My experience is that you can't break them or wear them out, even if you wanted too.

I still have the first reel I ever bought...a 5500C in 1974. I get it cleaned every now and then, but it still works flawlessly.

As I have pointed out before -- they may say made in Sweden and have the King of Sweden seal of quality on the reel but that DOES NOT CERTIFY they were made in Sweden --

All Records are made/mfg in Korea as are the Revos,

Some of the 4000-6000 series round reels are still made and assembled in either Korea or Sweden - the actual Svangsta reels will come with a take down tool and lube - its almost worth buying a presentation ABU to assure you still get Swedish Quality !!!!

ALL of the 7000 -10000 series are now made assembled in Taiwan

Even the Chinese [censored] will be labeled made in Sweden, but they DO NOT have King Gustavs seal on them.

Jarden/Pure fishing is deceiving the fishing public --

Apparently just ONE part made in Sweden now qualifies a reel to be included under made in Sweden label.

Unfortunately for us all offshore labor is cheap,

YOU can still get Svangsta KNOWN assembled and manufactured ABU reels -- you just have to have an insider in Sweden --

The QUALITY of the build and assembly is NOTICEABLY different from offshore factories.

I work on and restore ABU reels daily -- have some very valuable ones in my collection as well - to date I have thirty ABU reels of various models as well as ten Morrums, Ten Tourney reels, Several different Japenses market ABUS as well.

I don't like where PURE FISHING/Jarden is taking the brand, their CHINESE knock-off JUNK is giving ABU a bad rap.

PREACH ON.

They have also ruined Penn and few others also. JUNQUE.

I got a growing collection of Revo's in my outbin still in the body bag disassembled with a note to The good folks at Spirit Lake due to the unavailability of parts

Makes ya wanna shout and say ugly words don't it -- I have actually corresponded with the Swedish office of Quality on this issue by registered letter, I pointed out that King Gustavs seal should be yanked until such time as Jarden/Pure Fishing, either improved their junk, quit deceptive trade practices, or that the seal should be legally yanked under false advertising -- got an interesting response - did you know the whole royal family were ardent fishermen? Most of the Royals were actually taught to fish by the original ABU owners.

I am waiting for Avet to come out with their levelwind - all this Chinese, Korean, Taiwanese cheap junk, will go away when an American company again competes !!!!

the current C3's and C4's with carbon matrix drags come with the tool and oil...at least the last couple that I've bought...

representative pic:

Just bought a 4600C4 yesterday, oil but no tool.

hmm...that pic was from the 1st runs of the current model (2006 iirc).

I know the current ones come in a box printed with same graphics as what the revos come in, but the last C3 I bought came in a box like the one I pictured.

Maybe I got the last of the "true" made in Sweden ambassadeurs. I have 2 C3's (4601 and 5501) that both came with the tool and oil like pictured above.

Thanks Tony

What I have found the last few years, is that they have "thinned" the aluminum in the side plates from production models of the early nineties, there is about a .010 difference in the thickness of the side plates, additionally the stamping is different -- so not sure if the Korean plant is making those side plate or Svangsta -- hang on to your oldies but goodies, we may never see reels of that quality again !!!!

I have seen lately failures in the A.R.B. housing on the crank side coming away from the side plate - I don't think I have ever seen an ABU come apart like that in the last thirty years, which I believe is mainly due to thinning the side plate metal.

Same for the main gear post - coming out of the metal --

These so called "new and improved" ABU reels I would be careful with -- they aren't the reels you could put up wet and use again a month later types.

I used to land 100# + saltwater fish on 6500C's certainly abusing them , bet I would tear up a new manufactured one doing that now --

So is there any other way to tell what country a 4600 reel is mfgd in besides the tool and oil.Anybody know when Abu Garcia sold out to jarden or pure fishing?I think it was the late 90's.And also arent the swedish made reels called Abus and not abu garcias?I always thought that Abu(sweden) made a merger with an American company(garcia)sometime back in the 70's ?If so then wouldnt all the "Abu Garcias" that we grew up using be made somewhere other than Sweden.I dont mean to confuse anybody,but it gets very confusing to me when you also take into consideration the other Abu world markets like Japan.The Japanese revo is nothing close to the same reel we have here.So is that one Swedish made for the Japs or is it made in Japan?I guess then againit could be made in korea as well.
Sorry I talk to much.

realsreels.com has a pretty good history section for ABU reels.

Garcia/Mitchell were absorbed by ABU in early fifties I believe as a way to get a spinning reel line incorporated into ABU.

The only way I know for SURE to get a Svangsta made model is a direct source in Sweden, there was a guy I corresponded with who had a HUGE inventory of GENUINE ABU reels -- they were a bit more pricey - but you knew they were gold - I lost his number and I am trying to locate him again --

He used to sell direct on Ebay too.

HER IS WHAT ACTUAL SVANGSTA FACTORY HAS TO SAY ABOUT ABU::

Abu Garcia Factory Svangsta SWEDEN

All Ambassadeurs size 4000-6000 are made in Sv�ngsta. About 570,000 made each year!
We have 190 employees at this point. (Jan 06)

We are investing in automation of assembly, and state of the art equipment to make all our gears and all surface treatment.

We make all the quality deciding parts in house and all parts in the reel is surface treated at the facility in Sv�ngsta. Of course we do all assembly and quality control here. (we do this to have control of everything that decides the quality of the reels.)

50% of our production co-workers work in parts production and 50% in assembly. We are making a lot of progress in the plant.

In the past 4 years we have:

* Improved productivity by 60%
* Reduced inventory from 32M to 8M Sek
* Reduced customer claims by 60%
* Reduced scrap by 60%
*Improved delivery performance to 95%


These are all great accomplishments that will make sure the Ambassadeurs will be made in Sweden for many years to come.

The Swedish made Ambassadeurs are more healthy than ever.
The quality has never been better!


so with that said and quoted from factory - 4000 thru 6000 should not be suspect

HOWEVER - that does not take into account the BCX junque in those frame sizes or just WHAT are quality deciding parts? - that implies other parts makers !!!

Thanks Tony,While you were writing this I was digging out a box for a mid 70,s 5000D.The box and reel say ABU Svangsta Sweden "product of sweden"but the reel has American patent #'s with a Teaneck,NJ address.I also retrieved a current 5600C5Mag box.The warranty is written in different languages for 8 different manufacturing companies.Most of the foreign plants mailing addresses start with pure fishing except for the one in Svangsta,Sweden its Abu Garcia,but that plants email address starts with pure fishing.Anyway,I guess my whole point is that even though I hate to see this brand made in china or korea.Im really wondering now if the round reels i grew up using in the mid 80,s were even made in Sweden.I would also hate to imagine that Abu of Sweden is also now owned by pure fishing as well.BTW I found out it was in 1994 when Pure Fishing(called Outdoor Technologies Group back then) acquired Abu Garcia.

Heres some other old news that might be interesting.Before OTG or Pure Fishing bought Abu Garcia in 1994,60% of abu garcia was owned by Incentive Investment Co.They bought it from the son of Abus founding father Carl Borgstrom back in 1974.They were responsible for moving the manufacturing of everything except the round reels to the far east in 1981.