well, here it is! the topless frame for the shimano charter special by tom hrynuik. the workmanship is beautiful. i have frames for both the TR 1000 and TR 2000 models. the great thing is that the charter special will deliver 15 pounds of drag with great freespool and no side load on the right main side plate bearing. yup, it's an avet killer. better even than the old shimano tld 5's and 10's. load up the narrow TR 1000 with 50# spectra and a 30# topshot. the wide spool TR 2000 can be loaded with 65# spectra and a 40# topshot. add an oversized kolekar grip and you've got a pair of great live bait rigs.

with this run, there was one small problem.......







well, kudo's if you noticed it in the photos above. yeah, the front crossbar is too high. the top edge of the front cross bar is dead even with the top of the arbor of the spool. on a winding machine, that is not a problem. when the reel is on a rod, however, there is a slight downward angle taken by the line. when you get to the bottom of the spool, the line hits the crossbar. there are no sharp edges to slice through the line, but it is still not right. of course, if you're hung on a big fish that takes you down that far, you've got bigger problems than the cross bar.



we clamped this reel onto a calstar 270 and it took several wraps before there was enough height to clear the bar.





well, not too bad for a first effort.