Can anyone help me figure out the vaule of this board? I dont have the fin and the waveset finbox is rusted where the screws would be…
I look forward to your thoughts!
[img_assist|nid=1051952|title=Skip Frye - G&S|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=512|height=640]
If you are absolutely sure it’s a WAVESET box, the board would be roughly '67 or '68 vintage. In it’s current condition, I’d say it isn’t worth much. The nose looks severely damaged. I think it would need a lot of extensive restoration to make it saleable.
As is, it might fetch 300 to 400 from a buyer who really wants an old Frye. he’d have to spend that same amount to restore it, though.
Thank you for your input! I’m sure it is a WAVESET - whoever did the ding repair on the nose ding had no clue what they were doing (although, not as bad as it looks in these pics)!
Do you think its worth restoring to sell? or is there not much demand for this model?
If i remember correctly, I paid $250 for this board about 10 years ago…
The photos are not very clear, but it looks like the nose damage goes through to the deck. Correct? The pic of the bottom looks like it was never repaired and the foam has ‘rot’. If that’s a repair it is pretty bad.
The Frye model is popular and it might sell to someone who really desires it. Again, it needs some major work.
A friend of mine has a much newer Frye that he sent to a restorer. I believe the tab came to about $600 for a major rehab. You have to weigh cost of repair VS return.
The other drawback is the missing fin. You said the screw holes are rusted? Is it at all possible to use the box, as is? That is, fins can be found for that box, if the box is still useable.
Any restoration would have to be top notch work in order to sell it for max price. Restored, it might sell for $1000. The market for vintage boards is weak now, with the economic climate.
Board was built for family
the lams are crooked
the ding aint that bad
that a lil’ pigment wont cover…
deserves a clean up
the rust on the plates
in the box wont take
much to get em
functioning.
a gem in the rough.
you shouldha’ fixed
it a long time ago
shame on who?
priceless.
in o.b. you might be excommunicated.
paddle out at newbs they’d give you a wave just
to see it go for old times sake,at pb point they’d
give you a set wave … if somebody borrowed it
for a wave they’d likely not be seen again
sacrificing whatever they were riding
to your possession …
find a frye fan they might trade you
a new one for this board as is
an index cardon a bulletin board
at a surf shop like mitches ,
south coast ,or hansen would be telling.
even a craigs list run would reveal some
ideas.
…ambrose…
I can feel board lust welling up
Bill, you should post a pic of your Frye, too.
What’s the serial #? I have some factory invoices from that era and may be able to pinpoint the week it was made.
Sammy A is right. Probably early '68 with the W.A.V.E. Set box.
Can’t tell from the pictures. Is it a pintail?
From the size my guess is '68. 9’0 boards were rare prior to that and it would be after boards started to go short. Yes 9’0 would have been considered a “short board”. And there was no such thing as a “longboard”.
Skip had two models in early '68 the Flying Fish, basically a wider version of his original model and the Double Eagle a pintail. I think my Flying Fish had a white foam t-band which was the way they got the blanks wide enough back then. (C. C. Rider, Con Ugly for example)
So give me some dims and the serial # and I can give you more accurate information. Still couldn’t give you the value though, For that I have one word: Ebay.
what?
[quote="$1"]
what?
[/quote]
One word.
...ambrose...
2nd word :
bitchin.
…ambrose…
you gotta frye.
Not mine but this one was on display at the G&S 50th year anniversary.
Bill,
The board doesn’t have serial numbers - do you think it was a board that was made for a friend like the guy above mentioned? This board is actually the square tail… Also, do you have a picture of what the original fin should look like?
anyone know of a good restoration shop/person in los angeles?
Look real careful for a serial # on the stringer. The stringer is narrow so it will be be real hard to read but it is there. Somewhere.
It’s written in pencil probably and will be faded.
How wide is it?
Bill-
you are correct about the serial number! i never even noticed it…
NO 350 0405
the board is 23 inches at its widest point… 19 inch nose, 17 inch tail
any idea what the original fin would have looked like for this board?
I’ve got factory invoice # 00905 dated 4/23/68 to Keller’s Surf Shop in Lavallette.
It’s got ten boards with the earliest serial # 009 and the highest is 0803. There is a 0411 and 0476. Most of the boards are Hot Curls and there is an HYll, and SS and a 9’10 Frye Flying Fish with a tapered balsa stringer serial # 0250. This means your board was probably built in the spring of '68. Based on all factors. I had a 9’4 Frye Flying Fish that I got around this time. By Summer I was riding an 8’6 Hot Curl and boards were going shorter and shorter by the month.
I;ve not seen any invoices with 7 digit serial numbers. Skip may have written another number on there for some reason.
Gordon and Smith serial #'s followed different number sequences at different times. Serial #'s from 1967 ran from the 8000’s to 10000.
As far as the fin: W.A.V.E. Set had several fin styles and the fins may have been sold seperately. That is, not included with the board. As I remember that was usuallly the case.
Skip had designed a fin called the E-Free which was a short fin with a fairly wide base. The ad called it the New E-Free which gave the impression that was the name but Skip always called them E-Frees.
There was a Gordon and Smith fin designed by Larry Gordon which was offered by W.A.V.E. Set. But usually in the shops customers were given their choice of fin when they bought a board.
Thanks for the info Bill- thats awesome you still have that invoice! I’ll try to get a close up picture of the serial # - it looked like it was written NO 350 and then there is some space as if the next 4 numbers are separate and thats where the 0405 comes in…
The early WAVESET series had just one G and S fin template.
Later, Skip did a series of his own that stressed reduced surface area. One was called the Finger and it was miniscule compared to the one’s in the ad with with his picture, here.
Yes, The Hy-Proformance fin. My point was that when a customer bought a board, any board in a retail surf shop (which was how most boards were marketed) they had a choice. They could buy any fin they wanted for their new board. I was the rep for G&S but I also repped the W.A.V.E. Set line of fins from Karl Pope. Most boards were sold by the manufacturer without fins. (Kind of like today). The retailer could get the fins from the board maker or they could buy the fins directly from WAVE. The customer could choose the G&S. The Harbour, the Greenough, or any of the others. Even Dewey’s Hatchet fin.
Actually I misspoke earlier. The first G&S fin was by Hynson I believe, hence the name. Larry designed one in '69 during the Magic era. I can remember driving with Larry up to Ventura to take the fin plug. He sanded the whole way while I drove.
Skip had a gym bag full of fins. He would take the stock fins and cut them down, sand them. He’d go surfing and he would come in and change his fin, change boards, change the fin again. Sand on it a little more.
Here’s Skip on one such day. Three or four boards and a bag of fins.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQK0Ary5h0E
I can remember the day, at the PB Surf Shop in San Diego probably the fall of '69. Skip had made the transition to all fiberglass fins with a new box, the prototype of what would become the Bahne/Fins Unlimited box still in use today. He had his gym bag full of plastic fins. Sanded, cut down protoytypes. He took the bag and threw it in the garbage can on PB Drive.
A bunch of us were standing around.
Later that day, I was walking by, I lived just up the street. I saw the gym bag in the trash can. I stopped for a moment. I started to pull the bag out and save it for historical reference. For posterity. Then I thought. Oh, what the heck. After all, most of the year I was living in a van. I didn’t need any extra stuff.
Can you imagine what that bag of fins might bring at one of those vintage auctions today?
Hi BalsaBill
I read your comments re: the serial # being written on the stringer in pencil and much to my surprise I found the following on my 10 foot Gordon and Smith Skip Frye Board. If you have any information on it I sure would appreciate the help.
No. 244 10791 " Ye Old Stoney"
Is it usual to name a board? This board belonged to my late husband, who started surfing in Hawaii. He drove truck and travelled NY to California with his board on top of the truck. Went surfing wherever he had a layover.
I’ll check a little further but I have an old invoice from G&S from 6/6/67 right here that has serial #'s from 9943-10208. It includes three Skp Frye models, two Midget Farrelly’s an HY II (team board for Dennis Doyle) and an 11’0 lifesaving board. So I’d say your board was made in the summer of '67. Probably late June or July.The first three #'s, I believe, were Skips numbering system for his model. Seperate from the factory card numbers. Those numbers don’t show on the invoices. Hynson’s red fin models had seperate numbers too. I had one of the early ones and it had a low #. 15 or 16 or so.
Was the board made for your husband? If Skip was doing a “personal” for a particular customer he would write a message or a nickname possibly on the stringer. It seems to me I remember him shaping boards for someone named “Stoney”. Any more info on the history of the board? Where did your husband get it? G&S factory. A shop? New or used?
