I was just checking out a new batch of Firewires… man… they look like crap! The first couple batches were (are) things of beauty. The balsa rails are consistent, the foam is painted to hide imperfections, and finish quality is first rate.
The new boards look terrible. On a couple of them the balsa rails are completely sanded away towards the nose. They’ve stopped painting and pinlining them so you can see all of the imperfections - and there are lots of them. The foam changes color in a few places. There is obvious filler all over the place. These are not boards that make me reach for my wallet like the first ones almost had me doing. They’ve gone from the nicest looking boards in the shop to - “looks like someone is learning how to make surfboards… and they have a long way to go”.
I helped a 15 year old kid make his first board last year (just coaching, no touching), and it came out looking way better than the new Firewires.
So what happened??? I can understand trying to shave expenses, but the new boards look like they were made by first time builders with no experience building anything - let alone surfboards. With so much effort put into technology and branding, you’d think these boards would have never been allowed to leave the shop. If the quality doesn’t improve fast, Firewire might just become a footnote. If I had anything to do with them, I’d get those ugly boards off store racks ASAP. That’s no way to build a brand - or make surfboards. Just a waste of materials.
Yeah Kendall, I saw some boards in a supposed “team rider” quiver recently. Junk. Amazing the way quality is suffering. Of course, maybe they give seconds to the team guys? -Carl
These Firewires are so bad that everyone is noticing. The shop guys are dumbfounded. They say they can’t even sell them to guys who come in intending to buy a Firewire. They look like crap… splotchy decks and bottoms, uneven balsa rails, missing wood, filler everywhere… They have some new ones left in stock to compare them to. They are works of art. The new ones look like someone tried to knock off Firewire without really trying to get them right. I’d be embarassed to have my name associated with them, especially considering how nice the previous batch of boards were. It’s almost like they lost their vision(ary).
We got a little sidetracked in our shaper tree development - we’ve got about 15 full-time programmers working for us now, but the focus has been on widgets for web 2.0. Our first products are going into public beta in the next two weeks… super cool stuff. The shaper’s tree is more of a CMS app, that we don’t expect to make any money on. We’re going to be putting that up on the Surfing Heratige Foundation website soon. We’re integrating our info with a bunch of theirs. It will be the most comprehensive database on shapers, surfboards, logos, fins, etc anywhere.
I have a friend who just got back from Indo and has a 6’6" Firewire he is looking to sell… if anyone in the San Diego area is interested and wants to check it out, it’s at my house for the moment…there hasn’t been any decent surf lately so I haven’t tested it myself.
Maybe the philosophical differences that resulted in Bert and Firewire splitting ways had something to do with QC vs profit margins?
Yeah… I was trying to be subtle with my implications… but I’m not a subtle guy. If this is the fruit of the split, then Firewire has a basket of rotten melons, and Bert looks like a ripe peach.
I personally think Firewire would be better off keeping the quality high and raising the price accordingly. I’d put my efforts into making the proccess more cost effective without compromising the end result. People have noticed the change… it’s dramatic. That’s the part that’s got me scratching my head. They were doing it right… and then they decided they could get away with selling crap. Looks like landfill to me.
the first real ofshore production was in thailand overseen by bert and josh… the stuff you getting now is made in china overseen by one fleeting visit of mark price. you do the math…
Thanks for the update on the Shaper Tree. Thanks to Reverb for asking. I’d been wondering if I’d missed something and was going to PM to check the status. Curious to see how it comes out. The SHF is a good place for it. In my humble opinion.
Ryan
Re: Firewire. Wierd. All the hype was about new tech and improved manufacturing processes. As a QA guy, when I hear new and improved manufacturing processes, I expect tighter QA. It’s strange to hear about the shift the other way. Is this a fell-through-a-crack, isolated incident or is it all over the place?
you know I see Burt and Josh everyday as their factory is next to mine and we where all taking about how long before we see a comment on swaylocks about the QC of FW boards and it has not taken long, Bert and Josh are so pumped about what they are doing and they are doing it all for the correct reasons, its not about money( but they do need money) and the name, its about the boards. The boards I see coming out of the factory blows me away on the finish, shapes, the hole deal, everyday there is something new to see. Its been a honour to meet and talk with these guys
This smells like oportunity to me. The dealers were sold on the tech, quality, and hype, and now they’re expected to take delevery of a shoddy product. Hmmm… I wonder how they could fill the hole that’s suddenly appearing… sounds like they could use some peaches and cream.
I have a friend who just got back from Indo and has a 6’6" Firewire he is looking to sell… if anyone in the San Diego area is interested and wants to check it out, it’s at my house for the moment…there hasn’t been any decent surf lately so I haven’t tested it myself.
Can you PM me which one he has, and how much he wants??
I have been waiting to see this pop up. About a month ago my son came home and told me about the new batch of FWs he had seen at the local shop. He said that they looked crooked. I took a look at the new ones and they are pitiful. Like you are saying the early ones were beautiful! The outlines were not symmetrical and the decks were bumpy. This batch had pinlines and they were all over the place. I had really hoped that FW would knock Surftech off the map but as much as I dislike ST I have never seen any with problems them like this.
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