i have 4 of them in various sizes from when Steve Abel was still the owner in charge. they have received heavy saltwater use on some trophy big game water fish; tarpon, bills, wahoo, roosters...... taking them apart reveals the genius of Abel. working parts are minimal and that is why they are so great and work so well. oil the cork with neats foot oil and you are good to go. the first time a trophy peels off a 105' fly line and 300 yards of backing under 3#s of measure drag on the hookup, you will be totally impressed with their smooth no hiccup operation. using them around here is overkill in my opinion as these sorts of trophy fish simply don't exist in our backyards. for my day to day fishing in the PNW, I use all composition reels that are left out in the rod rack on the boat exposed to whatever weather comes our way. they work well enough on the size and type of fish we have around here. if you are into collecting reels or plan on pursuing big game fish, by all means consider the Abel as a solid choice.
And they wouldn't paint it on a mooching reel double 
