The Beaudex
I would like to preface this post with some acknowledgement to some sources. First off, there is a wealth of information available about J. W. Young reels at The Classic Fly Rod Forum. A great bunch of enthusiasts that have and still do post up photos of reels, but of old catalogs and such to help trace the history of Young reels. In particular, a poster with the handle of
bulldog1935 has been wonderful about sharing what he knows - which seems to have no end. Secondly, there was a book recently published by a gentleman named Elwyn Attwood (Rupe) titled
J. W. Young & Sons - A Century of the Art of Making Fishing Reels - available through
www.medlarpress.com. Rupe manage to go through the Young catalogs during the process of writing his book. This was extremely important as Young's mainstay was not as a retailer, but a wholesale manufacturer that sold their reels to others for retail sales and thus most prewar Youngs carry the retailers stamp instead of their own.
When WWII broke out Youngs already had over fifty years experience making reels. This was put aside to machine parts for fighter and bomber aircraft for the war effort and the production of reels didn't resume until the final months of the war.
Before hostilities interrupted the flow of events, Youngs was in the process of redesigning some of their reels and these were introduced after the war.
One of these was the Beaudex.
Attwood reports these reels replaced the Pattern 14A in their lineup. This reel and its simpler cousin the Pridex, both benefited from design features of what came before them. It is quite apparent that Young considered the ability to adjust end play on the spindle due to wear or personal preference an important feature. The spool release latch and the robust inner workings were also designs that carried through to the post war models.
Another thing that carried through from the prewar days was marking their reels for retailers. However, it appears that not everyone was the recipient of this practice as Garcia sold them with the J.W. Young & Sons badge intact. Other sellers had theirs stamped in addition to the Young badge.
Which ever way they were brought to market, the reels came in sizes suitable for everything freshwater from brook trout to salmon. The Beaudex was available in ¼" diameter increments from 3" through 4" with the larger sizes also available in wider widths.
Produced from 1945-1969 the cosmetics of the reel evolved with the times - different porting patterns on the spool, different finishes ranging from the crinkle finish of left over war paint to polished and lacquered drums of the later years. During the 24 years of its run, the inner workings of the reels change very little. The most significant change being the design concession to the popularity of left hand wind reels. And although the line guard changed a few times, it was still easy to spot a Young reel.
With where I live, and the kind of fishing I primarily do, I could probably get by with a single 3-1/2" Medium Width Beaudex for everything from stillwater to steelhead.
…but then…where's the fun in that!