There’s others more in the know - This is just a stab in the dark: “F” for Floyd Smith?
It seems a bit early for Skip Frye. But who knows…maybe Balsa Bill, Sammy A or someone from the day - I was a grom about that time.
The G&S website has a contact function. Might try them…
BalsaBill is the guy with good info about early G and S boards.
I searched sways to find more G and S threads as they seem to be common boards that pop up here.
Here’s one, where they speak of an “F” number and also another serial number on the same board. Interesting.
http://www.swaylocks.com/forums/vintage-gordon-and-smith-circa-1964-9-6-info-sought-historyvalue
My suspicion is that the F stands for FRYE. The numeral 28, most likely for board number 28. 1964 was the year of the comp band, for sure. That’s about the time, as I recall, that Skip started shaping.
My first real board was a 9’5" Hansen that had a black V shaped comp band. Purchased second hand in 1965.
I think we started carrying G&S’s at Keller’s Surf Shop in '64. Seems like they all had comp bands and glass tailblocks. Interesting that the comp band on this is a tint. Probably had the gold decal. Walker supplied wood tailblocks with the blanks and you’ll see them sometimes on old G&S’s and Webers. Simple redwood/balsa/redwood. At some point the switch was made to glass tailblocks.
I’d say the F would more likely be Frye than Floyd although it could be anything. Wasn’t Floyd in Australia about this time? Shapers used to write all kinds of things on the stringers back then. Sometimes they only had meaning for the shaper and the customer and might refer to some nickname, code or an in joke.
The board is most likeky a Quarter Speed which was the most popular style around this time. I would question your use of the term “crude” to describe the shape though.
Poor choice " crude" sorry, maybe more like basic function. Nothing but Mucho respecto for Mr Frye and Floyd.
Thank you all for your help!!!!
Poor choice " crude" sorry, maybe more like basic function. Nothing but Mucho respecto for Mr Frye and Floyd.
Thank you all for your help!!!!
If you click the link I posted earlier, you’ll see a post from three years ago, written by a guy with an old G and S bearing the serial number of 64353 , and it also had “F170” written on the stringer. Unfortunately, it seems the guy never posted pics or followed up at all.
Is there also a five digit serial number on that board, oldphart? Have a look.
**Sammy A,**
**Checked out that link on "F170" after my first exam I discounted the 5 digit number, (no photo's). I am sure you'll be happy to know the baby gets surfed! Oh and has wax on it, I'm gonna check it ever so carefully.**
**Let you know.**
**Aloha**
hi, have come into the posession of a G and S board with a T band stringer.the # f170 is in between the stringers just before the wooden tail block(looks like redwood) and the # 64353 is just above the g and s logo.I would say the board is about a 7 out of 10 condition wise (2 medium sized repaired dings,no delams ,no restorations,origional fin etc.Any ideas on its history or value?I am pretty new to my laptop and havent figured out how to get pictures out of the camera and on the computer(and it could be awhile) so in the meantime any info would be appriciated.Thanks,Brian. O.K. I’m back and there** # 6417 is just above the G&S logo, the “64” looks hand written with the 7 and 1 stamped. Polished out blue tint comp band and searched (hard to tell if any more digits are there. If 64 is the year, let’s see…**
