What’s with surfshops counting the individual bands in a t-band as 3 stringers? I’ve seen a 3 stringer board called “7 stringers.” Albiet by a shop that imports many Chinese products. The number of stringer probably appeal to the older and more traditionalist surfer. Why try to trick the informed? Who started this? No one’s buying it. Rob Olliges
east coast retailers – hype — uninformed — did i say hype?
Well, with Clark Foam and Walker charging for each stick and an 11.00 glue fee between each stick, should we as manufactureres give these added costs away? I charge 60.00$ for a pair of offset stringers, 14.89 per stringer, plus an additional 14.80 for the glue-up per side. then there is the additonal cutting charge from KKL on machine blanks. I get extra for shaping a multi stringer or extra wide center stick board. It all adds up fast
Jim, no problem for charging more for more wood. But the ridiculousness of calling three distinct stringers anything more than a 3 stringer board borders on the absurd. How many stringers in a single multi-ply stripe down the center? …which leads one to ponder why can’t we do away with these wood supports altogether? Rob Olliges
Rob, part of this problem is, most of the showroom monkeys don’t know their asses from a hole in the ground, “this is shine-ola”, they couldn’t tell you why it is called a t-band and without center sticks, no consistant rockers, broken boards, etc.
Jim, funny thing that you replied initially because the board in question (not the first I’ve heard with “virtually counted” stringers, but the one that prompted my question) is an old Jim Phillips 9’4" 3 stringer with a tapered square tail and a nice thick glass-on fin. $325. Board was numbered 89-xxxx. Faded but in good condition; nice work where the stringers become part of the rail. Rob Olliges
Hey Rob - I catch your drift. Some shapers do list stringer specs along with dimensions. A new Parmenter I checked yesterday listed “3 X 1/8” bass t-band" which spells it out pretty clearly but I don’t know if it qualifies as a t-band - all the wood is the same. I have a longboard with 3 t-bands (9 wood strips) but I wouldn’t call it a 9 stringer. I guess it’s just a triple t-band? Also, for Jim Phillips… why DO they call it a “t-band?” What would be the difference between a “t-band” and a “reverse t-band?” Do you agree that the 3 strip laminated stringer is not a t-band?
Jim, I’ve been working on parabolic stringers. Right up your alley. They work! I’ll be by in about a week and a half to see you.
T-band, at Clark Foam there was an employee (Jeff Thomas?) i:e t-band, many years ago that started gluing up 2 redwoods with a balsa between them. Most of the old longboards had the glass fin routed into the stringer back then and this was an easy way to go, the router bit slid nicely between the 2 redwoods, reverse t-band, 2 light color woods on the outside
Thanks Jim… sounds like you’ve been very busy!
What about high density foam t-bands? That’s what I always called them, but maybe they have a different actual name? ah, answered my own question (see link) http://www.surfresearch.com.au/as.html
Very well explained. The “T” stands for Three in T-Band. I’m not good at explaining logic but T-band just a type of stringer. So a center T-band and two side stringers is not “5 stringers,” rather a “T-band & two stringers” (a total of three stringers). A single T-band is not 3 stringers, rather a T-band. A stringer is defined/described by the foam on both sides. Is that it? surfresearch is really a great site. A valuable historical archive. Rob Olliges
The T in T-band was for Thomas, the Clark employee who popularized it
Kind of like the Car Talk puzzler: historic, folkloric… Swaylocks is great. Thanks and Happy (worldwide) Thanksgiving, Rob Olliges
The “T” in T-Band was for Dick Thomas. I believe he was a gluer at Walker Foam in the early ‘60’s. The guy that ran the band saw that split the blanks was named Willy Lenahan. Most of the confusion with the terminology T-Band came when guns and short boards started to be glued up with multiples of the same wood species. It was simpler to keep calling any assembly of wood or [colored] foam a T-Band rather than come up with another name. BTW: Two stringers of a designated dimension apart are not a T-Band, they are merely two saw cuts with stringers in them. If you ask for a foam T-Band, you get just that, (typically) two pieces of wood with a foam insert of specified width. This is more expensive than the two stringer configuration. If you want a foam T-Band, it is advisable to have them remove the T-Band’s width of foam from the blank that you are adding. Otherwise it will make the blank too wide and when you turn the rails, you will overshape it.