I am, in no way, qualified to make a recommendation, but, JC asked so here goes:
If he is located close to a good fly shop he could speak to them on how he fishes and what he fishes for and what he expects a rod and reel to do for him. Let them make a recommendation to him and then let him try out their recommendation. If he falls in love with it, then buy it. If he does not like it, he still has his other equipment to fall back to. He may really like his old equipment and that is good, but, if he has never tried any of the newer equipment, he will never know what he may be missing. As he gets on in age, he may need to try the newer lighter rods and reels which will give him more fishing enjoyment and less pain.
I just feel that he needs to try a new outfit and hopefully, he has a fly shop close to him that will set him up with an outfit and allow him to try it out. I know that I would love to have him as a customer if I owned a fly shop.
If he tries a new outfit and dislikes it, he can always upgrade his fly line, leader, tippet and maybe reel.
Warren
Fly fishing and fly tying are two things that I do, and when I am doing them, they are the only 2 things I think about. They clear my mind.