Shaping and glassing lessons in San Francisco??

General Discussion
1

Hi!

Im a “shaper” or want to be one, from Guadalajara Mexico, so far I have learned by my self and thanks to all of you guys at Swaylocks (thank good for this forum)

So I want to learn more and learn from some one who can teach a lil bit more, I know that practice is the key but some times its really hard specially with glassing, so I want to take my boards to the next level.

I’ll be in San Francisco for a couple of months and want to contact some one to talk abouth shaping boards an if its posible to take some lessons

 

Thanks!

ANDO

 

 

2

 

Sunset Shapers would be your best bet in San Francisco. This is the worst time of year for surf, but if you have a car their are options. Santa Cruz has a much bigger surf industry-scene.
(sunsetshapers.com)
 
3

I shaped a board with Gordon at sunset shapers, i have some mixed feelings about the “shaping lesson”. 

 

 overall it was for sure an awesome experience, and definitely pointed me in the right direction as far as shaping goes. Gordon is very knowledgable, has an old school way of doing things and relied heavily on eyeballing, and feeling his way around a blank. i learned a few things that i dont think i could have learned anywhere else and walked outta there with a beautiful board.

 

now the problems i have with the lessons was it was more or less ordering a custom board and watching the shaper shape most of it and explaining himself along the way. a little misleading i must say. i shaped maybe 25% of the board. and it was like trueing up the outline, and taking a few passes on the planer…that was about it. i was very disappointed in that aspect. you pay a nice chunk of change to basically watch someone shape a custom board for you is what it really boils down to. Personally, i think you would learn  ALOT more taking a whack at it on your own. 

 

now dont get me wrong, im not trying to put down Sunset shapers in any way shape or form. its a great shop with some rad people, i just think the “shaping lessons” are a bit misleading and pretty expensive. Borderline not worth it. IMO

4

Hey Ando-

I’ve heard Sunset Shapers does a nice job with their lessons etc…  If you make your way down to Southern California (HB) let us know.  We offer professional shaping lessons given by a very experienced shaper.  Our instructor knows what he is doing and has a college degree in speech communications so he can convey the techniques appropriately.  These lessons are very** “hands on”**, as the instructor will do one side then have you (the student) do the other.  Basically the student will do at least 50% of the work on the board.  You are gauranteed to get a bitchen board out of the lesson and learn a ton at the same time.  The lessons are $60/hr and usually go for four hours.  We offer an increidble glassing service that will get your board back within one week if we get it before Saturday 2pm.  If you need the board quicker we can get it “rushed” for you at an addtional cost.  You are welcome to bring along anyone you want to this one on one lesson.  For more information click here.

Give us a call or email Shape@FoamEZ.com for more information or to book a lesson.

Have a great time while visiting the San Fran.

Brad

5

       You can come watch me glass whenever you want, little further north though. Bring a respirator and humility. I think you may have been here already, but pm me and we can set a schedule.

6

…hello man, seems that you have the confusion that most shapers have, at least the new ones; so I want to clarify you couple of points: do not confuse the build stuff (known about materials, properties, techniques) with the design itself. The design is the most difficult part; shaping is not only following the lines of a blank, you should check a blank and see if you can obtain the desired shape from that, but firstly, you need a design, need concepts, basic ones and “new theories” or different ways to do the stuff (like every week you can see here); then think about the surfer (the Surfing skills, the style; what he/or you have in mind about it, the biotype, the training, etc), the waves on what the board will be perform, type of Surfing, etc. After you analyzed all those points you start to think in a “prescription” to base it; there you think about what type of rocker you should need (so you need to understand a bit about the rocker and all the other parts) for that shape (sometimes many theoretical things do not perform as expected in/on the water so it s mandatory that you test boards and understand the basics) then think a bout the other parts and the relation between each other and as a whole.

When you realized that you have the design, you start to think in the shaping (the shaping -build- have 2 steps: the “pre shaping” and the shaping itself)

So the most difficult thing is give a precise prescription for the intended ride.

The other difficulty is “sculpt” that design on the blank the right way.

–Follow the right path and you ll become a great shaper; follow the rapid line and you became one more or a finisher.

 

 

----I really doubt that some one explain that on couple of hours; you should experience it and take several years of efforts…a thing that many businessmen or just add water shapers do not practice

7

60$ an hour?

bitchin,are we gonna take ten hours to shape a board?

nope. men of action/ few words are cheaper.

stopping for a photo op?

…ambrose…

rent an industrial space,

fully equipt chaep at$ 60.oo

 

8

  In other words, better to shape as many boards as you can for your friends, for yourself, and for whoever will pay for the blank so you get experieince shaping hundreds of boards.....before they are good enough for a shop.

  You can't just copy, you have to try various designs, rails shapes, rocker lines, templated, and decide for yourself what works best for you and the waves you surf.

  For most shapers, a hundred boards shaped will give you a solid foundation to weed out ideas that don't work for you, and to gather several different ideas that always work.

  No shortcuts, just lots of shaping.

9

Hey guys I am so in agreement with these sentiments - although I don’t think the original poster is looking for a shortcut for anything other than improving his skills, especially since he mentions specifically wanting to learn more about glassing.  Even the shaping lessons discussed seem like a reasonable option to me, for someone wanting to improve their ability to get from concept to shaped blank.  My style is just to read up, study the pics, and go out there and do it, but everyone is different.  I’m sure a real pro would cringe to watch me hack away at a blank, but the end results have worked pretty well for me, so I’m happy to proceed in this manner - but the reason I’m a regular here is that I’m always looking to gain insights and improve my skills.

The things you guys mention here are the main beef I have with someone tinkering with a design on a computer screen, having the file shaped by a machine, and glassed by a shop, then thinking they’re on some kind of home-spun grassroots surfboard making journey.  It just strikes me as a journey that misses all the character and skill building hard work, hitting only the photo-op pit stops long enough to smile for the camera.

OK, rant over  :-)  I hope the o.p. finds the guidance he’s looking for to take his work to the next level, that’s surely a legitimate goal.

10

Brad , Brad , Brad..................

Dump the add.......sad, sad sad, sad......buy a note pad......Rad, rad, rad......

$60 x 4 plus glass.....madd , madd mad, mad........bean counter is glad.....the math is bad....customer is had.

You Tube or get tubed.....or get beat on the head with a 2 inch rubber hose.......Later Dude...

 

 

11

One of the generalities used in teaching is, I do, we do, you do.  Usually works out I do, we do, we do, we do, you do, you do, we do, you do, you do, you do, you do,with a lot of evaluating, assessing, and reflecting thrown in.  What I’m saying is having someone do the I do, we do,and paying them for the service is a good idea before the endless you do’s. There are no shortcuts. Mike

12

just watched a bunch of Von Dutch interviews

on you tube done by  Big daddy ed roth in the 80’s

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Gtb6991Hxc&list=PLLLHgtr-TnwbyxtJ7Dm5KzTpLv7lTYUho

von dutch,his father was a sign painter way back

when Rd roth asked him 

if his father taught him sign painting he said no,

his dad just said just keep doing it, You’ll get it…

 

asking around for input will get you a little info,

hanging around quietly and 'LISTEN" you will get

more information than you will ever remember,

and while you are in the middle of a problem

with process and materials some comment

will come to you from some hidden fold in your brein 

and give you a little enlightenment,aka ,you’ll get it.

some media is calling it an AH HA MOMENT>>>

you learn more from doing it wrong

than if you did it right the first time.

…ambrose…

archaic skill sign painting.

and pinstriping too

goes way back to european

carrige painting.

‘‘he didn’t teach me nothin’ he just said keep doin’ it 

you’ll get it,you’ll get it…‘’