JBL woody

[hcknudsen]

What is the deal with the JBL woody? It´s a mohogony gun that seems to be well build, but at the same time it seems to be a cheaper version of it´s equals. is this a good gun? and why do I get the impression that people mislike it? is it just because it´s cheaper or is it because it´s not as good?

hc

 

[Amphibious]

a cheaper version of it's equals.... hmmm.... well the only guns i'd put next to a JBL would be the billers, neither being a high end gun by any means.

JBL guns are heavy. clunky. sloppy. loud. slow. and coarse. but they do kill fish VERY well!!! never owned one of their woody models but have killed 100's of fish with the half dozen or so JBL guns I've owned over the years.


Stavanger eh? was having a nice Pinot Noir with a tall blond from Oslo last night. Lutefisk anyone?

 

[hcknudsen]

more or less what I thought, they look quite good on the pictures, strange that the don´t fix the flaws, not often you see mahogony guns at that price, but little does it help if they are full of no no´s.

Stavanger yeah but the weather sucks and the fish seem to have gone on vacation, so it´s scallop "season", since the don´t bugger off.

didn´t you mean ---->was having a nice tall blond from Oslo with a Pinot Noir last night, he he sorry couldn´t help it
did you have the lutefisk?? I´m Danish but have lived i Norway for 4 years now....still don´t have the courage to try it! I´m not sure that eating food that requires caustic soda and rubbergloves in the making appeals to me.

hc

 

[Amphibious]

haven;t tried the lutefisk yet, same reasons as you!

Blond is my buddy's wife, and he is a huge portugese bear, so I'll stay to sharing wine

 

[hcknudsen]

sounds like a good idea

since we are in the region of the portugese, have you ever huntet in Madeira? that is if you´ve been to portugal in the first case, probably going there this summer, the parents bought a house there.

hc

 

[Amphibious]

my only experience with portugal is the food, wine, and a couple girlfriends


big fan of all three

 

[hcknudsen]

well then sounds ok to me.....so madeira it is

thanks for the chat.

hc

 

[freediver7]

If you could recommend one modification to the JBL woody what would it be?

JBL is a great supporter of the San Diego Freedivers and they are open to improving their guns. I used a small JBL for years on the northern Calif coast before switching to Euro guns.

 

[hcknudsen]

I can´t answer that question, I never even held one, but there must be a reason why people think less of them, JBL is a well known make so i beats me, but amphibious listet his oppinion on the matter!
why did you switch to euro, never had an american myself, but would be open to trying one if it wasn´t for the price....thats where the woody caught my eye seemed like a nice price.

hc

 

[Coral Sniper]

I have the woody sawed off magnum,the mid sized one. Let me tell you some of the problems I had with it. The gun has a very bad trigger mech with all three bands on you will have too use two hands to fire it and the shaft that comes with it needs that much power. The grip is plastic and you can feel that it is not very solid. So what I have done to this gun was change the thick shaft too a 7mm jbl flopper shaft with only one of the stock bands so I can fire it with one hand rofl .I also cut down the but of the gun it is just too long. It is my hole gun now and it workes pretty good,Maby I will post a pic of the gun and some fish

 

[hcknudsen]

seems to be enough to get startet with if this gun is to justify the use of mahogony, can´t understand if they don´t modify the gun to perform better?

hc

 

[Coral Sniper]

I think I would go with a abbiller but thats up to you. Ha good luck with your choice

 

[trini720]

I've got a woody It's pretty good for the price, Killed many fish.
I'm told the new woody comes with an open muzzle and a spear with fins like a riffe. Anyone knows where I can get the muzzle to upgrade?

 

[hitjohn]

my first gun was a jbl woody sawed off magnum made of mahogany. for some reason or another that gun took a lot more fish than any others i have had. i use mostly euroguns not because they are light and easy to use while freediving. i had my woody sitting at my parents place and did some remodeling on it. here are some pictures. the gun now uses 48" shafts 5/16 diameter, its got a riffe style breakaway or a reel attachment below and the sidestocks are teak with stainless screws covered in marine epoxy. the muzzle is home made delrin for 3 bands which are 5/8ths , i am only using 2 now though and the carbon fiber barrel lays over a titanium tube which runs through the mahogany. the extension has a jbl tru glide track on it as well. i wanted a longer gun and wanted to put an old gun to use at the same time.

 

[hcknudsen]

cool modifications you´ve made......do you like the trigger mech or is it not the original? some say it´s hard, I´ve read this i other forums as well.

hc

 

[hitjohn]

cool modifications you´ve made......do you like the trigger mech or is it not the original? some say it´s hard, I´ve read this i other forums as well.

hc

i think the trigger has the potential to get hard to deal with if you overload the sear and also if you dont rinse after diving. i have had this gun with 3 bands 9/16th's for years without a problem. still smooth as new. easy to insert the shaft and it locks good, Now i use two 5/8ths bands. i have never taken this trigger apart , out of the handle yet. supposedly the magnum series jbl's have an X trigger meaning higher strength but i have not looked for one yet. for what i use it for it seems to be ok but i would not load up on short and fat bands for that oem jbl trigger.

as for biller guns, i have one of those too, ( i live on a limited budget: ) i like everything about it except the trigger is hard out of the box and the line release is just "there" below the handle. the line from the gun forms this triangle that gets in the way sometimes. the stock of the gun is also thinner. for a wood gun i dont know how good that is when traveling or banging around on rocks.

i did away with the whole slide ring and closed muzzle setup because i wanted something easier to load, fewer moving parts and wanted to use these two 48" freeshafts i had from ray odor.

my friends are all getting bigger guns for our trip in may and i wanted something too but no money for a new gun. the total cost for this upgrade was about 120.00 + whatever time i had to work on it.

the jbl's are a stout gun but for freediving they are a bit heavy and slow moving. but hey, what a price though right? : )

john

 

[hcknudsen]

modifying is twice the fun, actually wanted to build a gun, but the trigger mech´s are steep and prober hardwood is not to easy to find either, everything in Norway is expensive.

hc

 

[hitjohn]

modifying is twice the fun, actually wanted to build a gun, but the trigger mech´s are steep and prober hardwood is not to easy to find either, everything in Norway is expensive.

hc

so tell me, is it like in denmark where the taxes kill people? someone tole me once that the taxes for things especially when imported into denmark were so incredibly high.

my wife's family is from slovakia and my brother in law is a truck driver, he occasionally drives to norway and denmark but because i cannot speak to him in slovak i have not really had a chance to learn about thosep laces from him.

john

 

[hcknudsen]

It isn´t as bad as it sounds, the livingstandard is fairly high and doktors, hospitals, schools and stuff like that is free in Denmark, since Denmark is within the EU the prices on stuff i ok, Norway is more expensive and some of the things mentioned above cost money, but on the other hand, people have a better income, I´m actually Danish, but have lived in Norway for the last 4 years, the sea and certain parts of the nature is better here than in Denmark.
where are you from?

hc

 

[hitjohn]

It isn´t as bad as it sounds, the livingstandard is fairly high and doktors, hospitals, schools and stuff like that is free in Denmark, since Denmark is within the EU the prices on stuff i ok, Norway is more expensive and some of the things mentioned above cost money, but on the other hand, people have a better income, I´m actually Danish, but have lived in Norway for the last 4 years, the sea and certain parts of the nature is better here than in Denmark.
where are you from?

hc

hi hc,

i was originally born in san francisco and now live just south of there in redwood city. not as much nature here as compared to your place i bet: )

i go to slovakia to see my wife's family once every couple of years and i really like the outdoors there. we pickmushrooms, go trout fishing and hike. i wish we had more of that where i live.

how is the water there? is it icy cold? what kind of fish do you all spear there? i bet your water is a lot colder than ours.

john