SHAPER'S HOTSEAT: Barry Snyder

OK guys be nice.

Don't make me send out my assassins.

My personal tastes vary quite a bit.

Obviously, as I create a new model, I have to try it. So I ride everything I make.

Last year, a 5'10" square-nosed, asymmetrical mini-simms style board I call the "Hitchcock". Quad set-up on the heel-side, MR Twin on the Toe-side.

Right now I'm into wide point forward singles and two plus ones. My 6'4" "Black Beauty" is a stringerless blank I glued up as one of my "Dissect Series". Love handle rail channels to stiffen rail a bit. Single shallow concave to flat panel vee.

I also ride a 9'6" Pig longboard made from an Jacobs template. Glass-on single-fin, Opauqe lam with resin pinline. Rolled vee bottom. No concave.

I surf Oceanside beach breaks mostly. Pier, Harbor, South O'side.

Wintertime, I head south when time permits. Like the reefs. Cardiff, La Jolla, Sunset Cliffs.

Out of the water due to surgery right now. Nearly lost my big toe to infection.

Too much barefoot action this summer.

I'll be back!

Gonna make myself one of these next. Epoxy on PU foam. Torsion Drive Stringer.

oneula wrote:

two questions:

1. as a seasoned pro, how do you take an order in order not to end up with disappointed client and what triggers you to turn down a job?

2. aanything different you do when shaping EPS versus PU? 

thanks for taking pride in your work versus just chasing the fame and a quick dollar

1. Spend as much time listening to my customers as I can. Show them examples of my work. No "I'll tell you what you're gonna get" routine. I rarely turn down work. I love challenges. I'll turn it down if they want everything for nothing. I often turn down SUP's. Don't do 'em.

2. With EPS I'll use less tearing tools. Rough sandpaper on a block instead of Surform. Used sandpaper like 80 grit seems to tear it less. I slow down a bit with the planer. I have a sander with an extremely soft pad and some screen glued to it. Sands like butter.

insanecutback wrote:

Barry, could you name the top five or ten board makers on swaylocks who are not currently or formerly full time pros. 

One day soon I'd like to try make an agave stringer stubbie/fish. Would you send me a suitable piece of wood to japan so I could fulfil my dream.

Could you please correct my spelling and grammar if I have any mistakes? 

Assuming you have a wife and kids, what do they think of your career choice? Do they surf and most importantly do they get good deals on custom surfboards? 

There are a lot of talented board builder here. Inspiring. I don't want to affend antbody, so no I can't.

Send me a blank and I can stringer it for you providing I have the wood.

I've become dependant on Spellcheck. I have to pay attention here though.

I've heard the "You need a real job" speech more than once.

Wife used to surf with me.

All three kids surf. Full price, Yeah right.

johnmellor wrote:

Hi Barry - Nice of you to take this on!  I realize that your main area of expertise is shortboard oriented but here's a longboard question I hope you can shed some light on...

I read in a magazine an interview with Joe Quigg in which he talked briefly about things like "1 1/2" of deck rocker" and "rail rocker."

Just wondering if you know how the guys back in the day quantitated and measured such variables.  I.E. a straight piece of material can be used to measure bottom rocker by holding it at the midpoint and measuring various points between midpoint and the ends... but where might one establish a 'zero point' to reference deck rocker and even more weird (to me), rail rocker?

THANKS!

Deck rocker has been long forgotten to most current shapers. I look down the deck of many shapers boards and it looks like a moto-cross track. Especially in the fin area of the rails. Yikes!

If you use a rocker bar, it is easy to mimic and replicate deck rockers. Make templates, and measure it too.

artz wrote:

Barry I'm going to give you a genral profile of 3 diffrent Surfers. Tell us what kind of board you would recommend.  All the boards will be for the waves in and around North County San Diego area. Try to be as specific as possible fin sets rockers rails ect....

1) A late teen early 20's guy a very good local looking for something a little different for a go to board.

2) late 30's early 40's Surfer that is not getting as much time in the water as he use to. He wants to add to his wave count but not go to a Longboard. 

3) Long timeSurfer Over 55 years that has been out of the game for 5 or more years and really wants to get that stoke again.

1. Probably set him up with either a short stubby board which is all the rage right now, 5'2"-5'6"  or a lowered, easy entry rockered shortboard. Fuller nose multi-fin boxed for multiple fin options. Thin, with some tail kick. 5'6"-5'8".

2. Usually, volume is key here. You don't have to go longer to acheive volume. Wider not only @center, but fuller at both ends as well. I've been building these Alfred Hitchcock models that are a short wide and stable board. Usually between 5'4"- 5'10" range. I've had older surfers tell me they feel like a grom again riding such a short board.

3. This is usually a glidey and easy riding board. Maybe a Mid-length, lowered rocker board. Does not have to be a longboard since he has surf experience. Maybe a two plus one set-up. Can be ridden as a single fin like back in the day, or put the side fins in for some extra squirt.7'6"-8'6"  If he wants a longboard, maybe something classic like a pig-style with soft forgiving rails. 9'+.

Been an artist my whole life. No formal training, just High School classes. Always drawing. Which I do still to this day. Most of my boards start out as a drawing. Got my start painting skateboard decks for the neighborhood buddies. Painted my first surfboard (Russel Single-fin) with rattle-cans. White deck, Blue bottom and rail, with a white Lightning Bolt on the deck. That was 1978. Got introduced to a spray gun from Dave Peterson @ Brewer a couple years later. Daves brother is Craig Peterson, famous photog. from the 70's. Never looked back. Have been spraying boards ever since. I love the challenge of making textures and complex art projects. I have stopped shaping a few times just to focus on airbrushing.

Always been attracted to the art side of board building.

Yes.

I use the 5'9"P blank from US Blanks.

Great grom blank.

6'0"P as well.

Foe abstracts or color swirls I prefer to do it with resin.

Just richer and more vibrant.

Paint looks kinda weak and thin.

Needs to be sprayed to look solid.

On the foam, I hand paint with paint to get the "Hand-painted look".

I can't function without music.

My tastes vary.

HPSB's require something fast. Could be Metal or Punk Rock.

Longboards could be Blues.

Retro boards classic rock.

Sometimes Rockabilly gets me going.

My past has a lot of old school Punk Rock.

Still influences me today.

I'm a 50 year old Punk Rock kid!

I've been a SD guy my whole life.

Went to L.A. alot to see shows though.

Saw lots of bands there as a kid.

I remember seeing a lot of Carl's boards up there.

I vaguely remember the Screws.

So many good bands during that time period!

Cbass,

First boards fall into that "K.I.S.S. category.

If for a beginner, bottom contours make no difference.

Flat is OK.

Unless you plan on ripping on it.

Just don't do some huge concave at that width.

Never a good combo.

Vee in the tail if it is wider than 16".

Buy a blank close to what you want the finished board to look like.

Foiling is just a transition of thick to thinner.

Thickest @ center thinner at the rails and nose & tail.

Most newbs leave the tips rather thick.

Easier for glassing.

Just not pretty to look at.

Look at a picture of a rocker profile to see a foiled board.

Sebastian,

Mein Surfbrett Gebäude Freund, (I hope My German is correct).

I build a few Wide Point Forward style boards.

That is a fairly wide tail.

However I do utilize Vee in those models regardless of tail width.

I don't know how wide a nose you are going with but, Multi-fin would be safe.

Curvy outline would probably be fun as a Quad.

Ah yes, Faux wood grain technique.

Been doing that effect for years.

I've done them and fooled people into thinking it was real before I told them it wasn't.

Taken years of practice and trial and errors to make it look just right.

Grains, knots, color gradiations, glue lines, joints, even done some nails for authenticity.

Ben, PM me sometime.

30+ years working on that.

Not quite to sure about telling the world.

I charge big $ for that.

Found a couple.

Glue.

That is yet another method I have been working on for 20 years.

Sometimes resin.

Sometimes wood glue.

Sometimes polyurethane glue.

if it's water-based, you can add paint.

Resin requires pigments.

Depends on the application.

Regarding customers, stand firm.

I charge a fair price.

Industry standard.

Some of my project stuff, I charge accordingly.

Sometimes I throw in in some added bonus. Maybe a pinline or something to make them feel like they scored.

Made a couple body boards with surfboard construction methods.

Really fast, but did not bend and flex like a traditional bodyboard.

Kinda hard on the ribs too.

I have a bitchin' Dextra-like paipo from the 60's or 70's that I've been meaning to replicate.

Maybe my next project.

Thanks for inspiring me.

artz wrote:

Barry That Blue Board with the peel back airbrush is the Tits. Great work.  Always nice to see a creative mind at work. 

Thanks.

I went through a 3-D faze a while back.

Shadows and some realism.

Fun stuff!

thewreck94 wrote:

Hey Barry, 

awesome work. you produced some great stuff. 

Do you actually shape Mini Simmons ? 
I'm a huge fan, I made a 4,4 myself and it rides pretty good. 

Cheers from germany, 
René

Yep here's arecent one I did for Wellen clothing.

rtp wrote:

Are there any adjustments you make when shaping a shortboard for taller riders?

This happens to be an area of expertise for me as I am 6'4".

Taller surfers have a higher center of gravity.

So they can lean a board over easier than a shorter rider.

So I tend to leave a little more volume in the tail area.

I also widen them to keep the outline curvy.

Sometimes shapers will lengthen a board without adding width to the outline.

This makes for a straighter outline.

My formula is .25" for every 2.0" in length. Center width.

I also usually make the center concave less deep as I have found the width and deep concaves do not work well together.