reel service, is it really necesary?

[pro reel]

I get a lot of reels in for service that I can tell have not been serviced in many years. I know that a lot of anglers must wonder if it's really necesary to spend good money having someone service their reels once a year. The answer to that depends on several factors. How often is the reel used, and what conditions does it get used in? If the reel gets wet often, if it ever gets dunked, even just a quick dunk, if it gets sand or grit on it at all, or if it's ever used around salt or brackish water, then it most definatly needs to be serviced at least once a year or more often. If a reel is only used a few times a year, if it stay clean and dry and if it's it stored in a clean area, then it may be fine to only have it service every other year or posibly every 3rd year. If you try to push the service times longer than that, even with very little use, there will be problems develop from the breakdown of grease and oils. Grease will solidiy over time and oil can turn into a sticky varnish. The best advise is to follow the recomendation of the manufacturer and have htem serviced once a year, at a minimum or learn to do it yourself. Here are a few pictures of exactly what can happen to your valuable reels by neglecting to service them regularly. These ar from a set of reels sent to me last year. They included a few Daiwal Sols, A JDM custom Daiwa Ito, and several Shimano Calais and Chronarchs. The owner had kept the outsides of the reels clean but he didn't believe that it was necesary to send them in for service. He had used them in some brackish waters at the end of the last season and when he was getting ready for the first spring trip he noticed that none of them cranked smooth anymore. There was severe corrosion to most of the internal parts, and every bearing in every reel was corroded or seized. I actually had to clamp the reels into a drill press vice and drill the bearings out of the side plates and reel frames. The expense of repairs was quite a bit more than regular service would have been. If it was not for the fact that these were very expensive reels to begin with, it would not have been worth the expense to repair them.