Top 10 Oz Shapers

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OddaP
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Top 10 Oz Shapers

Post by OddaP » Mon Jun 01, 2009 7:24 pm

Wondering what your thoughts are on this?

Who do you regard as the top 10 shapers (Oz) going round at the moment?

For me, and not in any order

Greg Webber - From his fatburner to the deep concave to his twin fins, interesting shapes and use of new materials and technologies in the shaping process.
Daren Handley-2 world champs can't be wrong, even if the shapes off the rack are a little too narrow and thin for my tastes.
Jim Banks- His Indo boards and fishes are works of art.
Jason Stevenson - always impressed when I check out his stock boards, clever use of foam, particularly in the Occy and Luke Egan models
Sam Egan - Consistently good, a true craftsman.
Simon Anderson -His boards speak for themselves, I have ridden the XFC with a single to double and it is a brilliant board, unfortunately very expensive in WA.
Nev Hyman (more for his work on the Firewire than anything else recently, although the jury is still out on their durability and strength in the WA juice)
Rodney Dahlberg -Same as Sam Egan, consistently good.
Mark Richards- His rangle of twinnies and board for the bigger guy look the goods.
Gunther Rohn - Again, good craftsman, consistent quality.

What do you think?

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Grooter
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Re: Top 10 Oz Shapers

Post by Grooter » Tue Jun 02, 2009 9:24 am

I have no idea personally

But am interested to see where others rank Grant Miller in that list, quite a few people on here (myself included) ride his boards and rate them.

What about Geoff McCoy or Vicco legend Wayne Lynch?
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bood
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Re: Top 10 Oz Shapers

Post by bood » Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:08 am

tough call - 10 shapers. perhaps 10 shortboard, 5 gun, 5 retro, 5 mal

where do mick mackie, mitchell, mcewen, mctavish, and mccoy fit in?

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Re: Top 10 Oz Shapers

Post by Nick Carroll » Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:32 am

jeez I don't even have the guts for this one. top 50 maybe.

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sir_fur71
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Re: Top 10 Oz Shapers

Post by sir_fur71 » Tue Jun 02, 2009 12:30 pm

Such a personal preference thing. Some of the best boards I have had have been from guys that are virtually unknown. I have also had boards from 'top' shapers that went like a piece of driftwood ...... In a world of machine shapes and ghost shapers it is often hard to determine how good a shaper really is, especially if they are one of the well know guys.

In saying, I have a Gunther Rohn at the moment that is awesome, maybe I'll get more from him..

moreorless
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Re: Top 10 Oz Shapers

Post by moreorless » Tue Jun 02, 2009 12:49 pm

What about Mark Rabbidge? A real craftsman with decades of experience.

Knobjockey

Re: Top 10 Oz Shapers

Post by Knobjockey » Tue Jun 02, 2009 1:06 pm

moreorless wrote:What about Mark Rabbidge? A real craftsman with decades of experience.
Shapes a godd longboard so I hear but is a bit of a knob me thinks.. Told me once that he pioneered the Super Twin model that MR shapes.. Which I don't think is the case..

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steve shearer
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Re: Top 10 Oz Shapers

Post by steve shearer » Tue Jun 02, 2009 2:28 pm

What about top 15, top 20?
unless you've ridden their boards over a long while it's kind of meaningless.
By what parameters are you judging them?

You'd get a top 20 in the northern Rivers alone.
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mustkillmulloway
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Re: Top 10 Oz Shapers

Post by mustkillmulloway » Tue Jun 02, 2009 3:40 pm

sid

lives out back wauchope

shapes out his barn.....beautifull short boards

top 3 at least
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sg7890
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Re: Top 10 Oz Shapers

Post by sg7890 » Tue Jun 02, 2009 4:01 pm

i agree but there as got to be some others like what about hayden Cox, brett warner, aloha, lee stacey, al byrne. these guys are legends :?: :?: :?: :?: :?: :?: :?:

sean--
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Re: Top 10 Oz Shapers

Post by sean-- » Tue Jun 02, 2009 6:43 pm

I've had boards off Phil Byrne , Laurie Byrne, Wayne Roach, Sam Egan,Frank Latta,Grant Miller, Dain Thomas, Ed Sinnott , Terry Bishop, Brian Kellway, Jim Banks, Billy Tolhurst, Mark Plater and Mark Rabbidge which is as far back as I can remember and reckon they're all bloody good craftsmen .

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Re: Top 10 Oz Shapers

Post by Natho » Tue Jun 02, 2009 7:49 pm

Very hard to answer unless you have ridden all their boards.

Some of the best boards of late that Ive had have been from Simon though.

OddaP
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Re: Top 10 Oz Shapers

Post by OddaP » Tue Jun 02, 2009 8:06 pm

steve shearer wrote:What about top 15, top 20?
unless you've ridden their boards over a long while it's kind of meaningless.
By what parameters are you judging them?

You'd get a top 20 in the northern Rivers alone.
Fair point Steve, 10 is a rather arbitrary cut off, I guess its a very subjective thing/choice as well given that they are also the shapers of the baords that I like or liked over the years, and yep, some i have yet to ride but when i've checked them out they look the goods (eg JS) and some a bit on reputation/buzz (the Firewire, which is also not just a Nev concept I will add).

I've had a couple of very very good Nirvana boards and have ridden a few more and not only is Bill a really nice bloke and great shaper the quality of the finish was as good as anything I've ever had. Thinking on that he;d surely be in there for me as well, so errr top 11 :D

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eMpowered
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Re: Top 10 Oz Shapers

Post by eMpowered » Tue Jun 02, 2009 8:42 pm

I shape my own boards.

sg7890
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Re: Top 10 Oz Shapers

Post by sg7890 » Tue Jun 02, 2009 9:07 pm

eMpowered wrote:I shape my own boards.
:idea: :idea: oh you are the guy who shapes empowered boards, sweet work man i surfed one of your boards the other day i really liked it!

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g_u_m_b_y
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Re: Top 10 Oz Shapers

Post by g_u_m_b_y » Tue Jun 02, 2009 10:45 pm

Having only ridden about 6 shaper's boards, i would say my top 2 are:
1)Itchy Shapes (Mitch Beck). On about my 5th board from him, the first was surprisingly good, and they have only got better since then. My last one was magic, but i snapped it. Currently waiting for the newy....

2) Nirvana (Bill Cilia). Had about 4 boards from the Falcon. Awesome shaper, got my first custom from him. Not on his boards anymore 'cause im riding Mitch's, but they went awesome!

I think these two guys shape really similar boards. Well, maybe not similar, but i really like the way that both shapers make a board: both brands seem to go really well.

Have ridden a few others, was on some guy's from the south coast for about 2 boards, didn't fancy those ones. Rode a JS for about a week, didn't fancy it too much. Didn't feel right, but that might have been cause it was shaped for someone else. Released well, but didn't feel...right?

Pretty much love Itchy Shapes and Nirvana though.
EVERY board i have had from these two has been very good. And recently, from Mitch, MAGIC!

moreorless
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Re: Top 10 Oz Shapers

Post by moreorless » Wed Jun 03, 2009 8:42 am

Knobjockey wrote:
moreorless wrote:What about Mark Rabbidge? A real craftsman with decades of experience.
Shapes a godd longboard so I hear but is a bit of a knob me thinks.. Told me once that he pioneered the Super Twin model that MR shapes.. Which I don't think is the case..
There's a lot of people riding Rabbidge shortboards (and alternative designs) who can attest that his design skills stretch across the board (so to speak).

Don't know about his super twin claim, but I think I'd take his word over yours.

Also, how can someone who calls them self "knobjockey" accuse someone else of being a knob?

Grab-Rail Cutties
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Re: Top 10 Oz Shapers

Post by Grab-Rail Cutties » Wed Jun 03, 2009 8:56 am

Top 10(In No Order)
JS (Jason Stevenson)
DHD (Darren Handley)
Warner (Brett Warner)
Simon Anderson
Chilli(James Cheal)
Rusty (Aido Wheeler)
DYLAN (Dylan Longbottom)
Clear (Brad Robinson)
Insight (Matt Penn)
Firewire (Nev Hyman) Maybe Maybe hahah

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