Best East Coast Shapers

Made a name for himself with his breakthrough jersey business.
I have heard some mixed reviews but have no personal experience.
Haven't heard a thing about him in a few years.

 

Yup that's a pair of suite shapes.

Diamond shut down last year sometime before I had my last board shaped. Took Moonlight forever to do it.

Is that you Emass?

 

Can someone please define what a shaper is? These days everyone is a shaper. If a guy gets his blanks cut by someone else who has a machine, then scrubs the machine grooves out and then delivers the scrubbed blank to someone else who does the color work and glassing.......is that person a shaper? To me there is only a small a handful of real shapers on the east coast these days. Guys who run real businesses and do the whole process in house.

I've been making boards as a hobby for 29 years. The most boards I've made in a year would be 8 and most years I do 1-3 and really don't consider myself a shaper. Truth is out of the whole process shaping is the part I enjoy the least. I enjoy the glassing process the most.

 

To me anyway, a real shaper is someone who listens to you when you babble/talk about your surfing and gets you close to what you want, but really what you need but don’t know it...they know their local and what the waves are like and can zero in on what/where you are in your journey just by listening. And they make art. Each one they remember. Amazing.

 

They work perfectly. That little fish? My daughter was so inspired by it, I turn to look inside to see where she is while we’re out further? Kid paddled out WITH us... and no bullshit, paddled into a peeling 4’ greenie and rode it all the way in. First time board got wet and first wave she tried for.
Confidence in your shaper and their boards makes all the difference

 

Perhaps a list of legit East Coast surfboard companies should be created and go from there.

Wynn
Heritage
Rich Price
Matt Keckele
Matador
Wave Riding Vehicles
Bennett
Orion
Rickie Carroll
Savage
In The Eye
Bunger

If I missed any please add them. Legit companies preferably who produce complete boards in-house and not Joe backyarder like me.

 

Moonlight was the best when i was a kid but i had nothing but crap from them, soft or cracky glass jobs like 15 years ago.
Pretty boards that fall apart.

 

Yes. Do not forget that guy Ricky Carroll. Good job.

 

Thank you! I have a 10’ DelRay/Kane Gardens that looks like a wider version of a gun in a quad setup that paddles like it has an outboard engine - so my crippled ass can paddle onto those big dark green mountains waaaayyy outside so I’m riding before anyone even pivots for them as they frame up. Also helps to cover up my rickety pop up hahahha

 

I totally agree with your comments. It was funny, I was on a boat in North Sumatra and my friend damaged his leg and could not stand up so he was knee boarding (he is from the big island and barrel hunts over dry reef kind of guy). Anyway, there was a fish style shape in the rafter that he asked if he could use (left behind by previous traveler)…it was a Busby shape. He ended up getting so pitted on that thing for days. I took a picture with the board b/c it was so uncanny that here I was in the indian ocean and the random board is a Busby lol.

Lynn is a super nice guy. I took a 6 7" pin to Hawaii in 92' that he shaped. Years later, when I returned I obtained a "shell fish". Honestly one of my all time favorite boards. Over the years, he has only gotten better IMO. I guess the last time I saw him out was a year or so ago and he was still surfing good (short board)!

 

An 8’4” step up for me - I ride that Rusty Desert Island which is 8’ but thin so it’s a paddle into jacked up waves board for me - sinks otherwise and becomes a submarine. That fish floats me enough to paddle out through the mess and paddles quick enough so I can catch some fast rides steep.

 

Richards - Perfection Shop- out of Dirty Myrtle Beach. only one that kinda stands out for me in Charleston is the guy who does Grasshopper Boards. But Richards is the man, at least in the Carolinas. some of you 'gram followers might know his son Cam who rides for Vissla i believe

 

RIP Charlie Bunger... Got my first board from him... Passed away last week.

 

A shaper, in my mind, is a professional shaper. It's somebody who has hand shaped boards for a long time, for money, and to one degree or another made a living at it. A guy running a CNC machine isn't a shaper... he's a machinist. A guy who creates a file to run a machine isn't a shaper... he's a designer. A true shaper designs from start to finish... template, rocker, foil, bottom, rails, fin placement... doesn't copy designs (although he may borrow elements of others' designs), and shapes with an electric planer to do 90% of the work. And if you finally make it to the "big time," and do nothing but shape for a living and have your own label that's successful, you earn the right to have your blanks milled by machine to keep up with demand.

Glassers glass, and install fins. Sanders sand... and sometimes polish.

If you do all of the above, you're a board builder, and most likely either a hobbiest or a small time operation that... if run right... might make it to the big time, and eventually hire and train others to do what you have become an artist at. You'll control production, and most importantly, control quality. And you'll make a lot of people happy.

 

Yes a lot of good surfers ride Perfection.

 

That’s the best explanation I’ve seen.

 

I would add Chris Birch /Split Lip to the list. I've seen that guy's boards in Ocean City Maryland, and they always have that clean, flowing, detailed look that catches my eye. I've never ridden his boards, but know two very talented surfers who swear by them.

 

Nice list. Got a Matador myself. A Boneyard fish actually.
What about Seasoned outta NC and Natural Art?

 

Don't know that Seasoned or Natural Art are still around. For a number of years I rode Natural Art and Seasoned boards. Still have one of each.

Seasoned was out of Virginia Beach and haven't seen a new board from them anywhere in years. Pete Dooley of Natural Art has been ill and don't think he's made anything in years either but they may have licensed the brand. I should mention that Rich Price who I mentioned earlier was the best guy at Natural Art back in the hay day and he's been out on his own for a long time.