Mike,
You have asked the simgle most puzzeling question I have been asking myself since 1975 or thereabouts. That was the last contact I had with him. It would have been in Huntington Beach, CA where the Wizard frameshop was in operation. Ron Smith (who played guitar), David Vanderlinde(my roommate when we worked for Masi and a bassist), and myself were going to start a band around that time. Then Ron decided to move to Santa Cruz, CA. I heard he started a natural juice company and eventually became quite successful with it. I have tried looking him up on MANY occassions during the past 25 years but have never been able to locate him. One reason is that he was the FIRST American hired at Carlsbad and wasn't let go until the very last person except for Simonetti. He saw the operation earlier than anyone else, worked closely with Roland Sahm, Roger Smith (the manager) Faliero Masi, and Mario Confente in the earliest days of Masi USA. He was extremely talented, tolerant, and thoughtful as a person. In a way, a little bit out of place amongst some of the other personalities at the time; but he brought balance and progress to the operation. That is to say nothing of his contribution to training fledgling workers like myself as we arrived on the scene. Because of Ron I learned considerably more than the typical person because the earlier workers had to learn and move to more jobs than those who came behind them. I may have played musical chairs more than anyone else except for Ron himself.
Now do you want to hear some irony?? Here you go. I'm pretty sure Ron never actually made any frames completely himself. I remember him customizing a few lugsets but I think he had Mario braze the frames for him as a special favor. Everyone got along with Ron and everyone had ultimate respect for him as both a person and a craftsman.
I truely wish I could locate him. I would really enjoy getting his perspective on those times now that so many years have passed. Anyone got any clues??
Brian Baylis
La Mesa, CA
Gladly donate a Chrome Donut to the person who leads us to him!
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> so whatever happened to Ron Smith???
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> Mike Carney
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> Eugene, Oregon