Shapers at Jacobs in the 60's

I need some clarification. I recently picked up a 9’8" 1967 Jacobs. It has a high density red foam and spruce stringer with matching tailblock, raked fin and beutiful parallel rails. on ine of the stringers there is the number and the letter “Z”. I have heard and read over the years that Takayama, August and Carson all used different letters or symbols to represent themselves. I owned one of these years ago and it had an arrow symbol. Somebody at the time told me that Takayama had shaped the previous board but then recently I heard that the arrow was August’s. That aside, does anyone know who used the “Z”??

The Z was used by everyone at that time. It ment that the board was just a shop board. In other words it was not a custom.

I retreived from a trash pile, with permission, an old beat-up 6’4" Jacobs “Star” with S-deck and noticable belly under the chest. Looks like it would ride barrels well but turn like a dog. The stringer looks like a thin layer of glue. The resin and pinline work still say quality despite the age and condition. No signatures. Propbably not too exciting for you people who live in large surfing areas but this is a minor find in the Northeast. Possible uses: decoration; template the rails; study the s-deck and belly; patch and ride. Maybe next year’s project.