How do you spool line on a vintage fishing reel?

[AdamHerrmann]

How do you spool line onto a vintage fishing reel that has no line guide or eye on the reel (like some of the newer ones) to guide it on the reel, evenly?

[JamesW754]

You got yourself a conventional reel and conventional reels don't have a level wind system. Your thumb, in this case, is your manual level wind system. If you spool your reel with VERY thick (large diameter) lines, the line will wind onto the spool fairly evenly without any manual work.

[RustyNail631]

You feed the line between your fingers and lay it across the reel just like a level wind does.