I'm not a fan of ALPS reel seats, although I do think they look nice and are well made. What I dislike is them being cold and heavy. They're not cheap either.
When a customer asked if I'd build a set of Bait Blasters with ALPS ARD wave form seats (which he would supply) I said I would if they'd fit the blanks.
Well, they did fit but not with as large a gap as I like between blank and the inside of the seat. Although it's perfectly sufficient I like a little more 'wiggle room'. The inside diameter is a bit less than that of an 18mm Fuji pipe seat.
While the inside is slim the outside front of these reel seats is much wider than a comparable Fuji seat. or indeed other ALPS designs. This posed me a problem of how to make anaesthetically pleasing cork handle to go with the seats.
My solution was to use slightly wider diameter cork for the rear portion with a chunky 'cone' at the front. The butt was finished parallel with a large stainless button, while I fitted an black anodised aluminium winding check at the other end. The final result looked pretty good, the burgundy (garnet) thread and Union Flag pairing well.
I was surprised how noticeable the extra weight of these particular reel seats was. By the way, the hint of red by the hood is a rubber band which is supplied with the seats to prevent them rattling in transit, not a part of the design.
An earlier build was much simpler. The only changes from a near standard build on these two P-5s were the Ultra Matt finish to the blanks, Alconite rings, olive thread, stainless winding checks and American Tackle reel seats. I'm undecided about the reel seats. They seem to be asimilar quality to Fujis but they are sized slightly differently. The outside diameter at the front is a tad larger. I'll not be making a permanent changeover, but for those times when the Fujis are unavailable for an indeterminate period I'll be happy to fit them as an alternative.
