Secondhand Custom Boards

TheBigLebowski

I'm on the lookout for a new board and I often see custom boards for sale and usually at a higher price than generic made boards.

Now my knowledge of surfboards is quite limited but from what I gather custom boards are customised for a particular surfer taking into account the surfers size, experience, preferences, surfing style and also taking into account the type of wave that the particular surfer prefers.

So surely a secondhand custom board is a bit of an oxymoron and that it's high price tag is only worth it to the person who it is custom made for and once it's sold it is no longer a "custom board" but just a "board"?

loctite

What do you mean by generic made boards??

I agree in part with you. I think a custom board is that the board is not just tailored for a single individual but perhaps for a single group of individuals?? e.g. thoses that require certain features not necesarily what height, weight etc....

My interpretation of a custom board is one that is handmade regardless of who it is made for, I'm sure I am incorrect in such an application of the word, but thats the way I think it is used throughout the surfing community.

Applying the title "custom" to these class of boards, custom boards definitely warrant the increase in price, as it is a very labour intensive process with great skill required to create the board. I can anly assume that you mean mass produced machined blanks + cheaper moulded boards when you refer to generic boards, and yes they should be cheaper, but you get what you pay for......

The templates which custom (my definition of it) boards are made to will be generic or a standard design of a shaper regardless of your metrics, in that, they will not completely decide to redesign the rocker or V of a board just because you weigh 1 stone more than someone else or you have a larger foot size... but yes you are right you can argue whether or not in this case the board is a custom one...

The word is definitely not applied correctly to be sure!!

TheBigLebowski

By generic made, I suppose I mean anything other than custom made i.e. not made for anybody in particular. Would I not be correct to assume that most of these "generics" might have started out as "custom" boards that seemed to work well and then went into mass production. This mass production then makes the board less exclusive and considered not as good even if they are an exact replica of the "custom" board? Am I missing something or is it just board snobbery?