I picked up a nice used Al Merrick TPH (tri plan hull) that is signed by Al. From what I understand, he stopped personally shaping a long time ago (way before the Burton acquisition in '06). I’m just trying to get an idea on the approximate age of the board. It’s still fairly bright white and in good overall shape.
Thanks for any help
Howzit ghetto, I remember Max from the 60's and or some reasn I am thinking he either owned or worked for the board company who was in the Katin building on the right hand side about 15-20 feet from Katin's front door. Correct me if I am wrong since I can't even remember the name of the board company that was there. Nancy and Walter sponsered our surf club and we got great discounts on trunks and that was pretty good for those days. Aloh,Kokua
The rumor I have always been told is if the jesus fish has a closed tail then Al shaped it, if its open then it was one of the finishers. Again, just a rumor I’ve heard.
Makes sense to me.
Ghettorat, thanks for the details. It’s nice to get facts from someone who is/was there. Do you think the board was actually shaped by Al or did he (or someone else) sign his name on machine shaped boards?
It doesn’t really matter to me either way. I’m just curious as to the origin of the board. It would be pretty cool to have one that he personally shaped though.
Al Merrick has used the machine for years. KKL and others. Russel Hoyte and PJ Wahl were two of his "finishers" thru the "90"s and mid 2000. I am sure there were others. I had heard that for the last several years he had been focused on his Pros; Kelley etc. R&D and the machine. Little handshaping. I heard all this thru the grapevine and haven't been around Hoyte or Wahl for a few years so my info is most likly out-dated. ghettorat probably has more current info.
Buzz is that most of the crew finishing off the machined production boards aren’t even surfers much less shapers, just production line workers who have been trained to finish…
I haven’t worked for Al in almost twenty years, but I can tell you he is one of the most dedicated and aware shapers in the world, and he deserves all the credit and accolades accorded to him. I do remember the afternoon the first batch of KKL’s were brought up and the look on his face when they measured out using the formula that Barnfield shared with him- it was like the lights went on. He would shape four boards a day before that,and now he could do a whole bunch more. At the end of the day, I remember when he would change back into his street clothes, and how tired he was, especially when he took off his hat- he looked old to me. Yet after the machine at the end of the day he would do about ten, and be ready to head off for the cove rejuvenated, and appearing way younger. I spent some time with Tommy Lewis, in the hospital, right before he died, and who really taught him the basics, and we talked about Al, and he said he knew Al was going to be great, because of his approach to everything. I miss Tommy Lewis, he was the real deal, through and through.
Anyways the tri-plane hull was based off that Cundith- Greenough approach, and was really popular early in the Curren years, if it was a tri-fin, and he probably shaped it. Everyone likes to take a shot at the king, for whatever reasons, but guess what he worked way harder than you ever will, and it really helped him having Terry watching his back. “Focus and try to see the big picture”; he would always tell me. Looking forward to talking to AM again too. Alan Gibbons, Malcolm, Max MacDonald and me were about the last of his hand-shapers; that puts me in some pretty elite company.
I cannot verify this. But, I’ve heard that many CI boards that bear his signature were not actually shaped by him. Someone else may know more.
Al stopped shaping when he started to make money......just like all shapers.
It would be easier to tell, if there was a picture of the signature, and number.
Max was a San Clemente guy who was one of the first to regularly surf “State Park”, and learned to shape at Infinity, under Steve Boehne, around the same time as Terry Senate, and a production pro. A very skilled surfer-shaper who has a ton of photos in the magazines in the mid to late seventies and early eighties. A “PC” pro, that is pre Curren. He can shape anything, and back it up in the water.
And I’ve seen some of Al’s boards at yard sales, and even, and Op Tommy gun in a used board rack, so they do exist, and as I said he was a very dedicated and hard worker who aimed for a high level of consistency and precision in his shaping. In my opinion Al just improved as a shaper all the way through and never much the designer, but the ultimate refiner. The lesson is pay attention to the details.
Please see my post just prior to this one. I posted a photo.
Thanks
Yeah, see the AM before the fish, that’s his signature. Handshaped too just going by the number.
