It’s all about branding!
Both of you are right. I’ve had to play that game to an increasing degree.
The same guy I did the custom for is the same guy I am shaping a very distinct design that I won’t go into here. SD knows what I’m talking about.
When I realized how brandable the stuff I was doing was, I got it trademarked. The site is in development as well on Facebook.
I’m shaping three of these boards for: 1 former pro, 1 former 3x World Champion, and 1 of the best “unknown” locals in the world IMHO.
The demos have been slow coming because every time I build boards for that purpose, they get bought and paid for while still on the glassing racks. That’s been the same problem for supplying new retail accounts. The surf shops are hesitant to buy inventory because of the economy and the Asian production (and, sorry, CNC) has created a glut of supply that make surfboards perishable. Especially if you don’t buy the right FOAM.
Consumers have to sift thru all this to decide what they want.
Nowadays, you better work smart, quick, and be well connected.
If you don’t have a genuine work ethic, none of this makes any difference!
Yes I do have an asshole, and sometimes I even like to talk out of it.
R U a… lawyer?
would anyone be suprised to know that I was all of those nightmare customer types wrapped into one? hahaha! thank your lucky stars that I am not a consumer anymore!..Funny thing is that I know a lot shapers that started shaping from the same mentality…they were anal about their boards and thought they could shape something better than what they were buying at the time.
Then there are some pros who rarely try something that is new and when they do they dismiss it the second they see it. Then there are shapers that complain about customers that want to know everything about the board.
I think it is the nature of loving something(surfing) so much that no one can ever live up to its greatness. Like christians trying to live up to Christ. Everybody always judging eachother, people complain about hypocrisy of their church (surf industry). Church(surf industry) thinks its the center of spirituality(surfing), when really its not.
We’re all a bunch of douchebags! I don’t care what kind of douchebag you are. If you give me the ‘go’ in the lineup you’re a friend to me.
You can label yourself a douch bag if you like, I don't consider the label appealing, nor would make the assumption that everyone wants to wear that on their sleeve. As far as established shapers being quick to dismiss new ideas, I don't find that to be true in the slightest.
I've got over 4 decades into it and I am constantly looking for new approaches not only in design but surfboard construction. To do this I have to remain a dry sponge ready to absorb new ideas while drawing from sometimes, very obscure or alternative construction venues. I crossed over a lot of stuff I learned while designing racing sailboards to surfboards. My surfing customers benefitted huge during the 80's for all the profit I plowed back doing R&D in both design and construction for windsurfers.
If you don't stay a thirsty sponge, you stagnate.
When I stop learning, that is the day I die.
ok, I didn’t mean to throw in labels carelessly. If I could edit it I would say:
"We’re all fallible! and I don’t care. If you give me the ‘go’ in the lineup you’re a friend to me.
I was referring to “some pros”…pro surfers. And I don’t mean to generalize pro surfers either. What I was getting at is that all individuals have annoying quirks. And to me it is more humorous than irksome.
I’ve said it many times - I have some Cheap Ass Master tendencies…
But, as for this area… I’m the other side… I make my own, and don’t talk to many others about it anymore… Let alone talk about making a board for $$$ for some one…HA!
God bless all you guys who make a living making boards.
BT, thankxxx for the clarification.
You have one edit left for this week.
Please buckle up.
I brake for pigs.
You guys left out ONE type of customer that I immediatly thought of. Let's call him Kevin A. He shows up at your clandestine "Chicken Ranch" factory one day rappin his $#!t. He's had a board from a grumpy local shaper A and a board from local shaper B (who has hit the big time screening all the the machined CNC shapes of a famous Santa Barbara shaper). So he wanders in to your little chicken shit factory and starts looking at a progressive 9'0 that's in the finished rack. He actually pulls out a tape measure and checks the accuracy of your measurements.. You tell him the dollar amount required to leave said "Chicken Ranch" with said 9'0 under his arm. He makes a couple of critical comments and walks out the door without said 9'0 under arm. A few days later you've got the board at a local surf meet and the "Bros" are ooglein' your 9'0. Kevin A sees the response to your "bitchin'" shape and immediatly forks over the asking price , not wanting anyone else to have it. A few days later I'm on Maui waxin' my board for a session at the Bay and the cell phone rings. It's Kevin A. I'm thinking "What does this flocker want?" He's ravin' about the board. Fast, lite, responsive etc. He loves it. A couple of weeks later I get back to my local Pier Parking lot and the "Bros" tell me that Kevin A has been badmouthing me and has put the board in a local shop for consignment. Go figure. Lowel
That’s was a heavy story!
Psyco Babel is what we call people like that.
Here is his picture:
SD
**The surf shops are hesitant to buy inventory because of the economy and
the Asian production (and, sorry, CNC) has created a glut of supply that
make surfboards perishable. **
Your right DS there is a glut of supply.
However custom is alive and well.
Tommy’s SlingShot!
SD**
**
Clean simple doesn’t need fifty million logos to work.
More taste less filling. 
…we don’t need no ed-u-cation… we don’t need no thought control!
Hey Dead I haven’t pursued and shops however I got a nice size order today? Custom Plus Shops? I don’t get it?
Ding
I do. You are following the ‘magic’ formula.
You get the work out.
We both have work ethics and business backgrounds (to be immodest about it).
What do you get that other guys don’t seem to?
Obviously qualty and a competitive price for the segment(s) of the market you are addressing is critical, esp. in a soft economy. But I would say even more than that, you realize you have to deliver on your promises. Some craftsmen just don’t perform on the above points, and quite often it is in the delivery department.
Surfer 1st, shaper 2nd, businessman last… that’s fine if you have a ten digit trust fund or no wife, kids, and living in your van or with 4 other guys in an A frame on the North Shore or in Indo.
Every board builder that takes three, five or eleven months delivering a board just fuels the fire of extinction.
Can’t say I blame the customer that doesn’t want to miss half of a good winter waiting for a new board. No wonder I have chosen to stay small and do all my own glass work. The longest I have taken for someone in the past half year is three weeks, and that was the exception, only due to waiting on blank delivery which I am now fully stocked on. For special order blanks, I took your advice and added a 2nd foam supply source that delivers quickly. Most of my customers are getting their boards in 3 to 10 working days depending on current work load. Some rush orders I did the boards overnight but don’t want to make this the rule, I wanna have a life too and will be off to Mexico for another week break, then back on it. One of my retail accounts said “I hope you are having some fun too, not just al work”? To which I replied “how many people do you know that are passionate at their jobs and spent 6 weeks in France last year”?
You get my point. I work hard and play hard… always have. Glassing my own is working really well.
Contrast this with the 60’s label I am now shaping for. I did the first one, a 10 ft. wall hanger, and after 5 weeks it was still not finished in a professional glass shop of many decades with a full crew, not to mention that the board was to have a glassed on fin and they put a fin box in it.
My friends say “oh they must be really busy”… I’m not buying that. They ain’t that busy! They wish they were that busy. I say you want to be busy and make more money? Do more of the work yourself. Oh, and do the work right, read the order card.
I’m done here.
A well established glass shop just north of town I assume?
I have in house glassing. When I use to send boards out for glassing it was a nightmare. I would have to wait in line for 3 weeks some times. I can turn a board in 2 days if I have to. Some of the old timers think i’m crazy and you are supose to make people wait? 6 weeks is the norm.
When an order is out in 5 days the people freak. It’s really not that difficult?
There are some really good board builders in San Clemente that do all there own glassing because of the waiting period. In our glass shop if someone wants it fast and they pay their bills they will get first priority service regardless if they are a seasoned board builder or a first time board builder. We actually prefere the smaller board builders and love to help them get their boards done fast.
Surfding
McDing Unfortunately… yes.
SurfDing… yes. I was happy to see you go smaller and get leaner & meaner after we first initially met during your downsizing and my big blank buyout from you. Now you make money with rent 1/5th of what it was. You don’t have to have 20 or 30 dealers (of which 1 of 8 go out of business owing you $).
The guys that harp about Asian labor are starting to wear on me. A fair share of those guys were clueless or losers to begin with. Procrastinators, financial mismanagement, little or no work ethic… what’s that saying the NFL uses?
C’MON MAN!
P.S. Hey, are you dings related!!!
hah... fictional?
isn't this Kevin A. guy too odd?
I have had my fair share to say about the subject…but you are right on this. No doubt about it. Most good shapers that do their own work have plenty of orders.
When I had my stores, I have done business with all types. When I moved online and became mostly design specific, I can honestly say, I rarely if every have a problem with a customer and most I have done business with end up being either friends or friendly acquaintances. I have done business with some super interesting people, most of whom are surf stoked.
The biggest issue I used to see when I had the shops was: It’s always the board…never the rider. My favorite line ever and one Steve and I laugh about to this very day is one guy who came in and said, " Do you think your board can handle my cutback? I cutback Hard!