I've had the same Shimano Corsair 301 for 10 years now, and it's served me extremely well through a ton of casting, and even reeling a few pike and muskie here and there. A couple weeks ago, chucking spoons off a pier, it didn't want to reel anything in! Wound the line up, took it to Aikman's, and just the other day, got it back!
Feels fantastic now...with a couple new parts in it and a tune up. $40 and she's all good to go...not bad, considering I've never put so much as a drop of oil in it...bad I know. But I'll take better care of it for the next ten years.
Just thought I'd share how happy I was with Aikman's service...the only thing I wasn't wild about was that I had to call him to find out that it was ready. I kinda thought I'd get a call telling me what was wrong with it and how much it would cost. Instead, I called him, he told me up, it's ready, but when I found out it was only $40, I was willing to overlook it.
The guy does good work....just thought I'd throw it out there.
JB