First introduced in 1929, by the 1931 catalogue the Medalist sported a round guide composed entirely of Diamolite.
Diamolite is the Plflueger owned, registered, proprietary name for a mysterious alloy (or alloy and treatment) which appears to be some type of stainless steel. Presumably a search of U.S. Patents would reveal it’s composition. Amazingly, there is NO information on it available from a search of that word on the internet. The only returns come if linked to the name Pfleuger. Diamolite is highly polished, silvery, corrosion resistant, and very, very hard. To typical fishing reel use it seems to be completely scratch and abrasion resistant. It must also be inexpensive. Pflueger used it for at least 50 years for some of the least expensive, utilitarian, indestructible fly reels every made.
The agate line guide on the first Medalist was almost immediately replaced by a round Diamolite guide in 1931. That move alone with an seriously hardened metal solved ALL of the problems of both agate fragility and abrasion resistance, relatively unobtainable with British-tradition metals. Pflueger began building a reputation according to American values.
In 1940 Pflueger replaced the round guard with a beefy, open quadrangular cage of Diamolite surrounding almost a quarter circle of the reel between pillars with wide, flat surfaces that allowed more free stripping angles. The thick pillars and wide surface area sides eliminated any scraping abrasion by the fly line, even if pulled under tension at great angle. The guard added serious rigidity to the screw-pillar construction of the frame. The iconic, indestructible Medalist was finalized.
A Pfleuger Medalist matched to an American, mass produced bamboo rod was the quintessential white collar fly fishing outfit, a revolutionary concept in itself. Furthermore, the Medalist would easily jump into the synthetic era with the advent of fiberglass. THEN it became a BLUE collar fly reel!
In terms of functional return for the dollar, the Medalist was unmatched. Reel abrasion…..to any line or casting style…..solved. Reel durability…..solved Anyone who has a 50 year old Medalist, irrespective of how hard the reel has been fished, can attach it to any rod and go fishing today. The drag was never much, but it does not need to be for a light trout reel. At any age it won’t be pretty. But it will work.
In contrast, both blessed with and stuck with tradition, during this era House of Hardy reels evolved slowly with separate lines to adapt to cheaper, mass manufacturing techniques to supply the growing British middle class and the larger, un-presuming American market. On what were mostly fragile, cast aluminum frames Hardy addressed the line abrasion issue with traditional (soft) nickel silver, this time as a thin, half quadrangle openly screwed to the inferior pillar. The raised, open screws supplied a