Probably a great reel then but that jerky drag sounded like crap.....would have been nice to have a more modern day shimano at the time......:uhuh:

That crappy sound was music to my ears!
They were going to put that reel on display at the Smithsonian, but they chose Archie Bunker's chair instead.

If that reel could only talk!!!!!
Moog

I hear what your saying but I have always hated when my reels start to jerk like that.....so in the winter put new HT100 in them if it was a penn or those smoothie drags......then I bought my first Shimano conventional a 15/30 StarTLD and the drag is still like butter after years. Nice and smoooooth. Just personal opinion on feel.

Ya, I know what you mean about the jerky drag. In all fairness, I must admit that I always run my drag a lot tighter than recommended, which will make a reel's drag react in a jerky way when the fish takes line.
All of my Newell's had the same distinct sound.
Maybe it was the guy that serviced them?

In the case of the North River Striper, if I backed off the drag, the fish would have taken a lot more line and made a long run. Nice and smooth.
However, the fish could only manage to take line in bursts. The drag was too tight for a sustained run.

I use Avet's now, and when I crank the drag down, the line still jerks out of the reel, unless it's a toad and the reel just screams.
It's the way I use the drag. I'm not afraid of breaking off a fish, so I give it a good amount of extra.

By the way, the Avet sounds a lot different than the Newell.
Smoooooth. . . .Music!
Thanks,
Moog