OK!------So here it is! Name names and tell us why you like them. There are so many great shapers north of the Monterey Co. Line. Tell us why you like them. What they are best at. Maybe a “Magical” board one of them has done for you. Their contributions to our scene etc. I’ve got a “short” list of people like Doug Haut, John Mel, Johnny Rice, Michel Junod, Stretch, Croteau, Taylor, Heitman, Bob pearson, Farley, Schrodel etc. etc. Let’s hear it.
Well let’s start with a complete list.
It’s pretty long –
Here’s a few more:
Mark Goin
Joey Thomas
Randy French
Bobby Ledesma
CY
Kirk McGinty
Nick Palandrani
Doug Schroedel
Johnny Rice
J.D.
Tom ~ ScrewBall
Doug Haut
John Mel
Michel Junod
Bob Pearson
Steve Colletta
Kalu Colletta
Bill ‘Stretch’ Riedel
Geoff Rashe ~ M10
Carl Olson
Dan Pearle
Strive Boards
Ward Coffey
Pat Taylor
I’m sure I missed a few but I think this is a fairly good start.
Anyway – Go ahead and choose.
No Worries, Rich
Like Halcyon said there’re many good shapers in SC, but i can just talk about one of them by personal experience: John Mel.
I have a Fish from John Mel that’s that kind of magic board that every time you’d put it on the racks for a time and you take it again to the water you think “damm i’m surfing way better than i though!”.
It doesn’t have the hype other fish makers has, but there’re many years of R&D on that fish. At first sight it can look like any other old school fish, but if you look close in detail its rocker, rails and bottom are anything but old school.
Once more: thanks John! (and, or course, Halcyon for making it possible).
By the way, the board is a 5’10’‘x20.5’‘x2.625’', it has a couple of years of intensive use and it just has two small dings and yes, it’s light!, that means it has a good glass job also.
Coque.
Quote:
Well let’s start with a complete list.
It’s pretty long –
Here’s a few more:
Mark Goin
Joey Thomas
Randy French
Bobby Ledesma
CY
Kirk McGinty
Nick Palandrani
Doug Schroedel
Johnny Rice
J.D.
Tom ~ ScrewBall
Doug Haut
John Mel
Michel Junod
Bob Pearson
Steve Colletta
Kalu Colletta
Bill ‘Stretch’ Riedel
Geoff Rashe ~ M10
Carl Olson
Dan Pearle
Strive Boards
Ward Coffey
Pat Taylor
I’m sure I missed a few but I think this is a fairly good start.
Anyway – Go ahead and choose.
No Worries, Rich
Dane Perlee. He rips as well as he shapes.
Yeah, fosta…plus he’s a Washington boy 
Don’t forget Bob Miller on that list. A-grade shaper plus 20 years of composites. Before Stretch or Randy, there was Bob.
And Spicko, who’s shaping more than glassing now.
They’re definitely a talented bunch. Careful with off-the-rack boards, especially longboards, from some of the westside guys (Rice, Haut, Junod) because they have a lot of rocker and don’t work all that well in other places. They want - and rightly so - their customers to call up after a oh++ day at the Lane and say “I just had the best surf of my life on your board!” And their customers do exactly that. But a board for big, sloping, washing-machine Middle Peak isn’t going to go all that well at San O or Malibu or the Islands or Marin, or even over at Pleasure Point. Of course, all those guys are great shapers who can make you a custom that would work great anywhere…but their rack boards can be difficult. I see so many guys go down to Santa Cruz from Marin, buy some beautiful board, bring it home, and their wave counts go down…
From my observations, the eastside shapers’ longboards are a little more versatile. Shaping for the Point, the Hook, Capitola, and the occasional anonymous day over at the Lane makes for a slightly more user-friendly board.
bert moulton. never rode one of his boards but hear good things.
some guy in davenport called nev (sp)
hey how about G. M. C. ??? gary crocroft.... and also greg nolls son and ric noe son???
Jed Noll has left SC
David Verner
John Moore? he has his boards glaased there.
Andrew Hines
Buck Noe
Jim Olson
Andrew Barker
Good list. My “short list” left off some Major guys. Yeah that “little” berg has got more talent than you can get in a twenty ft. container.
Quote:
Yeah, fosta…plus he’s a Washington boy
Don’t forget Bob Miller on that list. A-grade shaper plus 20 years of composites. Before Stretch or Randy, there was Bob.
And Spicko, who’s shaping more than glassing now.
They’re definitely a talented bunch. Careful with off-the-rack boards, especially longboards, from some of the westside guys (Rice, Haut, Junod) because they have a lot of rocker and don’t work all that well in other places. They want - and rightly so - their customers to call up after a oh++ day at the Lane and say “I just had the best surf of my life on your board!” And their customers do exactly that. But a board for big, sloping, washing-machine Middle Peak isn’t going to go all that well at San O or Malibu or the Islands or Marin, or even over at Pleasure Point. Of course, all those guys are great shapers who can make you a custom that would work great anywhere…but their rack boards can be difficult. I see so many guys go down to Santa Cruz from Marin, buy some beautiful board, bring it home, and their wave counts go down…
From my observations, the eastside shapers’ longboards are a little more versatile. Shaping for the Point, the Hook, Capitola, and the occasional anonymous day over at the Lane makes for a slightly more user-friendly board.
His dad, Al Perlee, owns the shop in Westport, WA that I work for. Great family, they’re really good people. I recommend you stop in if you’re ever in the neighborhood.
Maybe you know this, but John is a kneeboarder and orignally from San Diego(moved to SC in early 70’s), hence the possible Steve Lis fish influence. I don’t know, you’d have to ask John. But I have always suspected that influence. I know that I asked him to shape a board in the seven ft. range for me once and he immediatly said “Oh something like a G&S Magic” and I having lived on Missouri st. in SD knew exactly what he was talking about and that is the way the board turned out.
Thanks for the info McDing!
I knew he was a kneeboarder, but i never knew he was from SD.
He wasn’t a bad stand up surfer also.
By the way, that red fish has really long based keels and it’s much more high performance that any other keel fish i had with shorter keels…
Love that board!