Curado G

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Slazmo
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Curado G

Post by Slazmo » Thu Feb 07, 2019 2:32 am

With a few years on after the CU-G now passed and forgotten, who's still using one? (regardless of nation).

Prices have stabilised here in Australia in the second hand market, anywhere from $80 as imagined as well used with marks etc / $160 for a excellent example with box etc. And it seems the popularity is rising, which is strange as they were such a "hated" reel globally. Unsure as why honestly couldn't understand the true reason as to why other than what I personally saw as maintenance abuse and poor usage / care and whinging about the reel and not about their care.

It was the last Curado to wear a anti reverse assist stopper dog and pawl, accompanied by the 5kg rated AR bearing - which you could comfortably fish the reel a little heavier than normal too with an upgraded drag.

I myself have 2 G7's one near new in G5 ratio and another little lightly scratched up but still very well presented which I've just re-geared to G5 a few months ago and further re-handled the other day with a 120mm no name carbon swept handle and EVA knobs etc, feels very right now. It's hard not to have them in rotation amongst the B, E, D, K series. They just work well for me and remains smooooooooth as melted butter...

Anyone got something to add about this oddly coloured Curado ugly duckling? Be nice to see some others still in rotation.

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Re: Curado G

Post by Saatanallinen » Thu Feb 07, 2019 3:52 am

Actually there are a few still in stock, at least here in Scandinavia. Got me a few months ago a G6 for 99Eur brand new.
Was considered a major downgrade from E-series at the time but hard to see why. Smooth as butter, absolutely nothing
wrong with it. Would buy again anytime.

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Zimbass
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Re: Curado G

Post by Zimbass » Thu Feb 07, 2019 4:25 am

Hi Slazmo,

I was one of those that chose to pass on the G series, as I saw to many with issues. The E series spoiled me, and still prefer that to the G.

As I have worked on literally hundreds of the G series, I was able to notice that there were a few, very few, that were assembled well, and were able to be broken down and rebuilt without issues. So many of them had non handle side plates that needed to have additional spacers fitted, or removed. The cast control cap spacers also needed to have some added or subtracted. All in all a disappointing reel.

I have just finished rebuilding 6 of the G series for a friend, who upgraded to the new K series. Of those 6, only 2 of them were what I would call standard builds. The other 4 had such bad tolerance issues, that I was not able to get them to a level I would be happy with, personally.

Ours sell for US$ 90 for an excellent one, or $40 to $50 for the problem ones.

Hope this makes sense.

Cheers.

Terry.

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Re: Curado G

Post by Slazmo » Thu Feb 07, 2019 2:11 pm

Terry can you quote BNT numbers for said spacers for non gearbox side plate and cast control cap.

Ive worked on quite a few myself and not experienced said issues? Fit and finish have been typical and taken in account Malaysian assembly that's all to nit pick from this side, most of which based that as their argument on solely.

Maybe Bantam can chime in and confirm as to where the parts originated from?

Mostly heard issues where people pissed and moaned about bearings dieing after use (being wett), and bending clutch thumb bar plates (from pushing down too far to the outside of the thumb bar) - and if you believe it "substandard" quality metal throughout the reel which I'm yet to determine which and what parts they're referring to?

Ive had a Metanium, Calais DC, Curado DC, Curado E, Curado D, Curado K Curado G all apart and it's hard to qualify without aggressive metallurgical discretion how the values of inner parts vary, but beyond visual inspection they're most if not all of similar make and quality.

Disregarding the made in "insert country here" stamping - have found it to be very stable.

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Zimbass
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Re: Curado G

Post by Zimbass » Thu Feb 07, 2019 7:43 pm

The brake case spacer BNT3934 is the worse of them. Spool tension spacer BNT 2224 is another. Some need to be added, others removed. Generally the spool tension spacer in most reels is a single unit, Have seen many G series with 2 of them.That is in addition to BNT1696 cast control spacer.

Also found that the level wind protector BNT4334 has a spacer on the left side sometimes, and not others. This causes the left side plate to not fit back into the frame without some fiddling. The end result is a reel that does not feel and sound as refined as it should do.

I am a Shimano fan thru and thru, but, not the G series.

Cheers,

Terry.

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Re: Curado G

Post by Slazmo » Thu Feb 07, 2019 11:09 pm

That's more of an individual build issue than that of QC - most reels and their schematics will say to some form "spacers / shims in reels will vary"... I know I add and subtract as necessary when rebuilding to get the fine tolerances needed.

Probably the mail clerk sitting in for one of the production line workers that day who knows?

But have seen double washers in the CC knob myself - doesn't mean its a faulty reel, and I have seen this in quiet a few Daiwa casting reels.

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Zimbass
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Re: Curado G

Post by Zimbass » Fri Feb 08, 2019 6:11 am

I agree that it is not a QC issue, but you would expect that tolerances on these reels should not have such a poor build quality. The odd shim here and there is something that most reels have, yet I can not accept that every reel has a variation on tolerances, requiring adjustment.

Parts are not easy to obtain over here, so having to hold stock of varied sized spacers is not feasible.

Not saying that they are all faulty,but, just too many to make them desirable :(

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Re: Curado G

Post by lifeofRiley » Thu Feb 14, 2019 4:14 pm

Here's a secret trick I learned today from a reel tech at a shimano factory authorized service center. I had a G reel from my best buddy and it was making a ticking sound with every rotation of the spool. I had torn the reel apart and couldn't find anything wrong. The tech took out the spool, grabbed it his hand, and on a hard counter top firmly pressed on the ends of each of the vbs pins. He replaced the spool and the noise was gone. He said he has seen the issue on the G reels before.

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Re: Curado G

Post by Slazmo » Thu Feb 14, 2019 5:37 pm

lifeofRiley wrote:Here's a secret trick I learned today from a reel tech at a shimano factory authorized service center.

The tech took out the spool, grabbed it his hand, and on a hard counter top firmly pressed on the ends of each of the vbs pins. He replaced the spool and the noise was gone. He said he has seen the issue on the G reels before.
Bit like the B series spools when they cracked where the pins inserted into the plastic - they sometimes allowed the pins to rub around the outer race - I agree I have pushed them back in when re-glueing them back in. Havent seen too many issues with natural cracking unless the side plate has been forced onto the spool pin pucks on the G series.

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Re: Curado G

Post by hoohoorjoo » Thu Feb 14, 2019 5:39 pm

lifeofRiley wrote:Here's a secret trick I learned today from a reel tech at a shimano factory authorized service center. I had a G reel from my best buddy and it was making a ticking sound with every rotation of the spool. I had torn the reel apart and couldn't find anything wrong. The tech took out the spool, grabbed it his hand, and on a hard counter top firmly pressed on the ends of each of the vbs pins. He replaced the spool and the noise was gone. He said he has seen the issue on the G reels before.
I have epoxied several of those posts back into the VBS hub on the G series reels. That is either poor QC or Shimano just accepted it. Either way, not a good way to keep customers coming back to their workhorse reel.
Try not to let your mind wander. It is much too small to be outside unsupervised.

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Re: Curado G

Post by lifeofRiley » Thu Feb 14, 2019 10:21 pm

This reel was in like new condition. My buddy bought it from the backshelf of some tackle store, maybe a floor model. Very little fishing time on it. The tech didn't use any glue, he just put some pressure on each of the pins to snug them back in.

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