FlatFace's 32.7 mm Prototype Deck Puts a Hand-Cut Split Ply Under the G16 Story

One width: 32.7 mm. One variant: "Mike's Split Ply." One price: $65.

A split ply is contrasting veneers cut and recombined so the pattern runs through the layup rather than sitting on the surface as a print — which is why FlatFace notes that every one is unique and why the deck is sold as-is with no returns or exchanges. The brand says everything here is hand cut, with no lasers or power tools involved, and that the plies are made "using meticulous methods to ensure proper performance of the board."

What the listing does not say is how many plies are in the stack, which species the contrasting veneers are, or whether this prototype is pressed on the G16 mold or something earlier in the development line. It is filed as a prototype deck, not as a G16, and the brand hasn't said how many exist.

The interesting part is the company the deck keeps. The same page runs FlatFace's G16 write-up, and it reads like a development log rather than a spec sheet.

By the brand's account, the G16 came out of "a certain G15.12 deck that came out a little steeper than usual" — a press variance Mike Schneider says he has been riding since 2014, and has now turned into a production shape. The stated ingredients:

• a precision low concave
• a nose and tail slightly higher than FlatFace's usual
• the same wheelbase as the G15, and what the brand calls the same flowy feel

The reasoning FlatFace gives is that a low concave stays out of the way of tricks while steeper kicks make pop easier, so a small motion from the fingers is enough to get the board off the surface. That is a coherent argument rather than a list of adjectives: less shape under the fingers in the middle, more shape at the ends where you load it.

FlatFace also frames the G16 as arriving "after 20 years of meticulous deck making" — the brand's own claim, and the only source for it here — and says riders had been asking which board appears in recent videos. This prototype sits in that same window. It is not positioned as the finished answer, but as a hand-made object from the bench where the answer was worked out. Buying a prototype has always been a way to own a step in that process, and the split ply makes this one visibly a one-off: the pattern cannot repeat.

• Width: 32.7 mm
• Variant: Mike's Split Ply, hand cut by Mike Schneider
• Price: $65
• Terms: sold as-is, no returns or exchanges
• Where: flatfacefingerboards.com, listed September 22, 2026

Stock status, ply count, wood species and any link between this prototype and the production G16 are not confirmed at the time of writing.