! n O s I m a J The Story by Carlee Wright | Photos by Jason Pluemke
It might sound like an epic music competition and while fingerboarding very well could help your musical prowess (and vice versa - more on that later), what we are actually talking about is a retro-revival where all hands—or rather, fingers—are on deck. Just ask Andrew Norman, former keyboard player of The (now retired) Ferenjis and organizer of The Fingerboard Jam, a family, friendly, all-ages welcome competition happening in February at The Bad Space. “Fingerboarding was invented by a couple members of the infamous Bones Brigade in the mid-80s. Lance Mountain is widely credited with building the first fingerboard out of popsicle sticks and the wheels and axles off a die-cast car. The Bones Brigade riders would hang out and ride these fingerboards in sinks and tubs, using the miniature board to figure out the physics of tricks they were attempting in bowls and halfpipes,” Andrew said.
Children of the 80s and teens of the 90s may recognize the name Tech Deck, which dominated the fingerboard toy market for many years. “‘Professional’ fingerboarding has existed since 1999 with the advent of German company Blackriver, followed soon after by FlatFace Fingerboards in the U.S. in 2003. It remained a quiet hobby/sport, particularly in the U.S., until the COVID-19 pandemic struck,” Andrew said. “With more time to spend indoors, and the opportunity to pick up new hobbies, fingerboarding is seeing a massive resurgence in popularity worldwide.” Long story short? Fingerboarding is skateboarding with your fingers. “A Tech Deck is like the base-level starter board. Most hobbyists enjoy collecting Tech Decks, but not skating them,” Andrew said. “Today, there are hundreds of fingerboard makers in the U.S. alone. "Professional" quality decks differ from Tech Decks in their
design and construction: where a Tech Deck is thermo-molded plastic, professional fingerboards are made from (typically) 5 plies of wood veneer and glue pressed in a mold, much the way full-sized skateboards are produced.” Professional fingerboards feature further advanced construction. “Professional fingerboard trucks are made from tougher alloys than Tech Deck trucks, ranging from aluminum to steel. Fingerboard wheels come in a variety of durometers (the measure of a wheel's hardness or softness), and include small ball bearings, whereas Tech Deck wheels lack bearings (with the exception of Tech Deck's most recent professional product release).” Andrew was one of those kids that played with Tech Decks in middle school, yet put it away almost 20 years ago. Photo above: Chris Daniels rolls away from a kickflip back tail at the end of his Best Run heat
feb/mar 2023 | www.pressplaysalem.com | 15