Who is shaping Takayama's boards?

[Niau]

A long time ago I adopted my moniker Deadshaper.

People on Sways thought it might be that I was a "deadhead" ...... loved the Grateful Dead & Jerry Gracia.

I explained the avatar/moniker came in the wake fo my horrific car accident in August of 1990. A less than 1% survival rate, then two years of grueling self designed therapy, a crash course in neurology, and intense studying of both orthodox & alternative medicine. No stone unturned to reclaim what had once been considered a charmed life.

I had to learn how to walk before I could shape again........ it was a long, difficult scary climb back.

At that point I started signing the first group of boards "deadshaper". And in a sense, it became an homage to ALL the dead shapers that have aspired, created, shared, then passed on beyond us....... Kahanamoku, Blake, Simmons, Bradbury, Brewer, Diff, Croteau, Jones, Krause...... the list is long & distinguished.

Inevitably Donald has now joined the ever growing ranks of deadshapers, and someday, perhaps, thanks to the advent of reverse engineering, I too, will be a bonafide dead shaper competing with the shapers of the future. View attachment 46683

There's your deceased shapers, some of whom left a legacy of boards that transcended their era. Then there's your shapers whose signature appears on the stringer long after they've shed their mortal coil. Passed, died, kicked the can... whatever you want to call it. Not sure if that's a dead shaper, a ghost shaper, or just a plain bad idea. Someday it might be helpful to know if the board was actually shaped by the person it's credited to.

 

[Jc Nelson]

Ghost Shaper
View attachment 46457

once a guy passes on and his estate sells the rights, can you even consider it a ghost shape?

i have a pencil sig from the mid 90's. might have been shaped by dt. guys in the know have looked at it up and down and are convinced its a donald.

but i dont give 2 fucks. its a rider and it goes good. if tommy or jim takayama shaped it, its all good by me. from what i've been told, donald was s task master. when he was alive he made certain his ghost shapers knew they had to step up.

 

[jmon_wellfleet]

I thought moonlight went out of business and the guys moved over mostly to another shop and christenson took the space over? I could be way way off...this was from an east coast former SD shaper and a chat a couple years back.

anways...i prefer the west coast glassing vs Ricky shop. but not sure worth the cost these days of shipping. Both are machines.....its about the glassing.

 

[Niau]

once a guy passes on and his estate sells the rights, can you even consider it a ghost shape?

i have a pencil sig from the mid 90's. might have been shaped by dt. guys in the know have looked at it up and down and are convinced its a donald.

but i dont give 2 fucks. its a rider and it goes good. if tommy or jim takayama shaped it, its all good by me. from what i've been told, donald was s task master. when he was alive he made certain his ghost shapers knew they had to step up.

"...its a rider and it goes good."
Agreed, I think boards should be ridden. I also think they should be built to last and treated well. If so, then sometime down the road there will be people who maybe never laid eyes on Donald, but want to acquire a board made by him.
When he was still around, he regularly 'touched up' boards shaped or scrubbed by his ghosts. I've heard they weren't always necessarily any better afterwards, but at least when he signed the stringer it meant something.
Collectors especially would have an interest, it seems, in the legitimacy of the signature. I don't know what to think about a stenciled signature...

 

[Artz]

I thought moonlight went out of business and the guys moved over mostly to another shop and christenson took the space over? I could be way way off...this was from an east coast former SD shaper and a chat a couple years back.

anways...i prefer the west coast glassing vs Ricky shop. but not sure worth the cost these days of shipping. Both are machines.....its about the glassing.

Rick’s Glassing is equal and in some cases better then a lot of the west coast glass shops. Takayama would never licensed Rick Carroll to Build his boards if the glassing was not on par with the glassing done in his Oceanside Factory.

 

[Fishface]

I thought moonlight went out of business and the guys moved over mostly to another shop and christenson took the space over? I could be way way off...this was from an east coast former SD shaper and a chat a couple years back.

anways...i prefer the west coast glassing vs Ricky shop. but not sure worth the cost these days of shipping. Both are machines.....its about the glassing.

pretty sure the St Pierre's sold it to Christenson....


yeah

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[Sax-son]

I 'm sorry, but when a shaper passes away, I consider it a counterfeit and a fraud to use their name on the product. Anyone can take a Model T, or whatever famous shape a deceased shaper is known for and call it your own using a CNC. I make exceptions for those passed on shapers and labels if there is a family member or members still involved continuously in the business or if the label was rightfully sold prior to the deceased individuals passing such as Jacobs, Weber, Hobie, Bing, etc. Even then it starts to get into a gray area. When you start to see these hefty price tags on some of these dubious constructed surfboards, then I call bullshit.

Ghostshaping is a whole other situation when an owner of an established label contracts with other shapers to build products and is there to supervise the product going out. Every big label in the business has done some of this in the past when business is good, and they are selling more surfboards than they can keep up with.

 

[Dawnpatrol]

Always wanted one, but curious to know who the shaper/shapers are before I empty out my savings account.

Thanks in advance!

Surftech