No Patriarchs for me either, I have a couple of Supreme XT's and my one complaint with them is they have a sort of flange deal welded onto the spool that is part of the drag clicker. That flange will wear off as it has for me. When that happens, you now have a silent drag. So if I was looking at a Patriarch, I'd take the spool off to see if it has the drag deal on it. Other than that, I would expect it to be a great reel.
I do have a Stradic FL, Landbigfish had a great sale on them a couple of months ago, picked one up and I think it is a great reel, very smooth, light, casts well, and it is just a well machined, well put together product. I believe the only difference in the C-14 and the FL is that the C-14 has a lighter body and is about an ounce lighter overall. I have read where the older Shimanos had a problem where they got wet and the drag stops functioning. New models have a sealed drag, so I hope it doesn't happen to mine.
FL and the C14 have what they call a "long-stroke" spool, which I take to mean it's a long, somewhat narrow spool. Supposedly it helps with casting distance. I believe that it does, but don't know how that would compare to the Pflueger. However, I have a 3000 size FL and it has a narrow spool for that sized reel and it looks more like a 2000 size to me.
You may have good reasons for wanting a 1000 sized reel, but if you go the Shimano route, I'd get the 3000, better line management and pickup than you'll get from a 1000.
And one more thing, and this could be a big one - the Shimanos do not have an anti-reverse on/off switch. So no back reeling. I like it myself as I never do any back reeling and don't have to worry about accidentally flipping the switch over and not noticing it until I went to set the hook, or lift something off a snag.