Prete Decks: Twenty Years of Handmade German Wood
Peter Ringel has hand-pressed fingerboard decks in Germany since 2003 — and the 6011 mold that closes his long-running 6000 series shows how far a one-person boutique can go.
Handmade German fingerboard decks (and coping) by Peter Ringel; making decks since 2003, officially registered 2006, still releasing new molds (the 6011/6011FL) in limited drops.
Part of Pioneer Brands
- Founded
- 2003
- Country
- Germany
- Focus
- Decks, Obstacles & ramps
- Confidence
- Confirmed
Origin
Where it started
Prete's story is a boutique-era story told one deck at a time. Its first-party site is refreshingly plain about it: these are "professional fingerboard decks, handmade by Peter Ringel in Germany since 2003." The history it documents runs from early prototyping in 2003–2005 to an official company registration in 2006 — right in the window the scene was trading toy plastic for real, hand-pressed wood (the early boutique wood era).1, 2
The push
What changed
What sets Prete apart is how steadily it kept sharpening the same craft. The site's own history logs upgrades most riders never see: metal bottom plies added in 2007, carbon top plies in 2012, and a long run of house molds — the 6009s, the 6010, the 6010R2low in 2020 — each a small refinement of shape and feel. Decks are pressed from hand-selected veneer blends using traditional methods and modern tools, then released in small drops rather than open stock. Like Berlinwood before it, Prete treats a fingerboard deck as something to build properly, in wood, and keep improving.1, 2
Signature
What they pushed forward
Prete's pioneering isn't one breakout product — it's two decades of iterating on the same handmade deck. A few things stand out.
The 6000-series molds — and the 6011
Prete's house molds trace a two-decade arc of shape refinement, and the 6011 closes the series. The storefront describes it as combining "the best of both the 6010 and 6010R2low models," with medium kicks, medium concave, and a short wheelbase, pressed from five plies of Grade-A veneer and finished in hard wax oil. The follow-on "6011FL" is billed as a new 2026 shape.2, 1
Handmade, upgraded construction
These decks are built, not stamped. The brand's history notes metal bottom plies from 2007 and carbon top plies from 2012 worked into the hand-pressed maple — the kind of quiet material craft that separates a boutique deck from a toy.1
Made to drop, not to stock
Prete releases in limited batches rather than open stock, pointing riders to specific windows — its listings note availability at events like Fast Fingers. It's the drop model a lot of modern boutiques now run on, from a maker who has been doing it since before it was the norm.2
Legacy
Why it still matters
Twenty-plus years in, Prete is still a one-person German workshop turning out hand-pressed wood — no sprawling catalog, no factory line, just a mold lineage that keeps advancing and a name boutique riders know. The 6011 is a fitting capstone: proof that a handmade deck brand from the early boutique era can still set its own pace two decades later.1, 2
Archive images
Setup-era context
References
Numbered references to the brand, retailer, and community pages that back this article. Confidence labels show how firmly each source is established.
- 1.Prete Decks — Professional Fingerboard Decks
Prete DecksOfficial
'Professional fingerboard decks, handmade by Peter Ringel in Germany since 2003'; history notes 2003–2005 prototyping and a 2006 official company registration, metal bottom plies (2007), carbon top plies (2012), and the 6010R2low mold (2020).
Back to citation ↩ - 2.Prete Decks — 6011 / 6011FL Mold storefront
Prete DecksOfficial
Current storefront. The 6011 mold closes the 6000 series and 'combines the best of both the 6010 and 6010R2low models,' with medium kicks and medium concave; the '6011FL Mold – New 2026 Shape' listing is priced at 35,00 EUR and sells in limited drops (e.g. 'Next available at FastFingers 2025').
Back to citation ↩
Independence & sources