Does anyone ever wish that all woodshops or brands adhered to how length is measured ( including concave or not).
Recently going through some major board madness right now. Been really digging the Alien 8.75 shape. However, I wish it was a tad shorter. 32, 32.12. I love the 14.25 wheelbase tho with some 151 thunders. Enjoi has a board with the dims I want but I can't do the steep kicks.
Also, what are there all these 32.5 + length boards about? Whose skating those? I guess good for transition? Either way, I have the worse habit of getting comfy on niche shapes and then hating them
I think PS Stix is the only one that really does the "measure with concave" for length, so anything from PS Stix that says 32.25 is more like 31.85 or so, at least from the boards I have checked myself and from what others have said too.
Mostly everything else is measured straight across from tip to tip with graphic side down, which gives a more accurate and more uniform way to measure boards.
Those AWS decks sure are long in the kicks with their shorter wheelbase, but other boards are the same if not longer overall, usually with slightly longer wheelbases which result in slightly more normal (and shorter) kicks, but in saying that the bigger boards are often up to 6.75 in tail length, with 7.25 noses, maybe 14.5 to 15" wheelbases so work out nicely proportionate at 32.5 up to 33" in total length, like the AH orange eagle, which is a big board, but still works.
As for something similar, the Polar 8.75 has a much smaller tail by comparison to AWS decks and is a touch shorter overall when I had them back to back, with the AH white eagle in 8.75 being only ever so slightly longer overall, but with a longer wheelbase and what I would consider very good nose and tail lengths, but that is just me.
When it comes to concave, there are a lot more things to check or note there too, different woodshops having different kicks on their decks, some more mellow and spoon like (BBS) and others very quick and steep (Dwindle) but there are quite a few in between as well. It just takes a while to go through boards in person, look at them, stand on them and feel out what seems like it would be more comfortable.
Everyone has their own preferences, as well as different boards in different shops / areas / countries, so there is no way to really say this one is best, that one is ok, the other ones are bad, unless you are in the same place and standing on the same boards, but even then I know I have different thoughts on some boards to other people I skate with.
At least if you get a feel for what concave you prefer, the Woodshop list should help a bit in working out what you might want to try, but I am often surprised when I go somewhere that has a good range and could spend a while standing on all the boards in certain sizes just to see what they are like, definitely some more comfortable than others.