[Jemwielder]

I was flipping thru one of my old guitar mags and found a picture of the green meanie. I noticed some of vais personalizations to the guitar included stickers from various skateboard companies. Including some old Dogtown (the legendary Z-boys the begining of it all) artwork. I'm assuming vai was a skater in his younger days. Does anybody know if he still rides or any details about that? Just curious being a skater myself.

 

[Polaris20]

Totally unrelated (well, not totally) but I still have my board, a Frankie Hill from 1992.

Obviously I don't ride it often, but it's still fun for me to push around every once and awhile.

 

[Jemwielder]

right on man!!! I have an Alva. It's a new one but it's a sweet set-up, I skate all the time. Great excercise so long as you wear pads so you don't break anything.

 

[Polaris20]

right on man!!! I have an Alva. It's a new one but it's a sweet set-up, I skate all the time. Great excercise so long as you wear pads so you don't break anything.

Yeah I wear kneepads and gloves. That's pretty much it. I don't go anywhere near halfpipes anymore; I had enough difficulty with those when I was younger!

 

[Jemwielder]

i carve pools and bomb hills mostly. Nothing too technical just fun. The most up to date new school trick that i can pull is an ollie.

 

[Wis Redz of Silvanost]

How do you do it guys? I was always amazed buy just seein people standing atop the board without falling. I tried just skating some time ago nothing technical just going straight ahead but I couldn't that

 

[toshiro]

I used to skate, quit about 11 years ago. lol Was a street skater; curbs, loading docks, shopping plazas, abadoned gas stations, etc, etc. Used to ollie shopping carts for fun. Hated pads, about the closest I got were those old padded, fingerless, Rector gloves.

This is from that era, though about 5 years before I quit(as evidenced by the late-80's stlye board):

Think I'm about 12 there? Not 100% positive. Shouldn't have bought those horrible surfer shorts though... Geez...

 

[Dylan7620]

thats awesome. old school boards are awesome!

 

[Jemwielder]

Wow, thanks for the trip down memory lane guys. I've been an old school skater/surfer since age 4. If anybody else wants to share some stories of concrete warfare pleas don't hesitate to post them!

 

[Chris From Singapore.]

Very nice ollie and nollie pics! Incidently I saw john petrucci in the latest guitar player magazine sporting a nice independent truck company tshirt

 

[Tom Gilroy]

I used to skate. Had a Zero deck riding on grind king trucks, bones swiss bearing and some spitfire wheels. Sold it and invested the money in my guitar after I had a bad fall. I was about to land a heelflip off a curb, the board slipped out form under me and I landed straight onto the curb on the base of my spine. It sucked so bad I quit straight away.

 

[Polaris20]

I am far from technical! Being a guitar player, husband, and full-time IT specialist leaves little time to really practice at being an excellent skater. But it sure is fun, and I guess I am lucky enough to not fall off of the thing constantly.

I used to love skitching; ie holding on the back of a car ala Back to the Future. Excellent alternative to taking the bus in high school.

 

[Jemwielder]

yeah man i just got back from bombing this hill by the middle school where i live. I actually also have a zero deck, similar setup as gilroys just with ricta instead of spitfire wheels, I've been kind of wary of spitfires ever since i had a bearing explosion while goin down a hill, they make good wheels but ricta makes em better if you have the cash. I'm currently saving for a long board setup, i'll put up a post about it once i get it.

 

[Two hands31]

As for Vai, I seem to remember reading somewhere that the stickers on his guitar were basically just whatever stickers he could find.

 

[gunkungfu]

Aww those pic's take me back to my first board it was a S.M.A Natas

 

[nightfiend14]

have have some old clippings and i'm pretty sure that vai said he just went to a shop and bought a ton of stickers cuz thats what he could easily find and looked decent.

 

[Jemwielder]

well that's kinda disappointing. I was hoping vai was an other "brother of the board." Still doesn't quite explain the dogtown rat/crossbones drew on there. He has to have read at least one dogtown article in his life