When Lofty Goals Converge
The partnerships that developed between
Ribbecke, Szmanda, and Vega, along with CFO Len Wood, became the energy
behind the Ribbecke Guitar Corporation (RGC).
“Because of luck of the draw—where the economy
was when these instruments appeared on the
scene—we were fortunate enough to have people
step forward and invest and help me make these
things. We obtained a patent on it, we had a
group of investors step forward and opened a
corporation—kind of a nutty, alternative corporation—
to build the Halflings. We’ve built and
sold close to a million dollars worth of Halflings
in the last six years. I wanted to rebrand myself
at about a third of the price, wrap in some
technology, really offer something different, and
build them in America. We made a very conscious
decision not to take this offshore, because
I felt that the technology could be screwed up
very quickly and easily. So we slog along here
making them in America.”
Taking a “guerilla” approach, RGC decided
the best strategy would be to run the business
as lean as possible instead of taking on millions
of dollars in debt. “We took angelic investors
who really believed in the product and started
the company with a little less than $600,000
and ran it on a shoestring with an unbelievable
crew of people who were all hand-selected—all
of whom are really special. I think that’s why
we’re still here today, because we chose the guerilla
method to build this company. If we had
taken venture capital, or if we had taken money
from anyplace else, I think we would be out of
business now.” Ribbecke’s private workshop is
located three miles from the RGC workshop,
but he currently spends 80 to 85 percent of his
time building Halflings.
RGC’s other mission was completely accidental.
It was poles apart from Ribbecke’s goal
of changing the archtop world, but it was perhaps
far more important. Several years ago, a
friend asked if she could bring her son out to
the shop to do some sweeping up or other work
for Ribbecke—he was setting fires and getting
into trouble and she needed to do something.
Ribbecke politely declined, but she showed up
anyway, and he took the youngster on. “He
was particularly troubled. He had been a young
white supremacist—I went to his MySpace
page and it was all in German! I used to call
him Himmler [
after Heinrich Himmler, Adolf
Hitler’s infamous SS officer during World War II].
But he seemed to think what I did was cool.
It wasn’t long before his life had changed and
his MySpace page was in English and he had
gay friends and black friends—because people
would just call him out on his behavior in my
shop. After a while the school started calling
me, saying, ‘Well, we’ve got this
other kid . . . .’
That’s kind of how that whole thing started.”
Some documentary filmmakers approached
Ribbecke about doing a film about his life and
the two businesses he ran side by side. When
they observed the people in the shop and how
Ribbecke interacted with them, they immediately
began talking about a reality TV series,
which was to be called
Ribbecke’s Guitar Planet.
The trailer opens with Ribbecke saying that he
is trying to pass on his knowledge before “they
burn the place down.” He’s being tongue-incheek,
of course. But, all kidding aside, he’s
very proud of this “family” that surrounds his
instruments. “If nothing else comes out of this,
the fact that we’ve had this experience, and
these kids have had this chance to grow and be
who they are—they would have done this with
or without us, maybe—but I was privileged to
be with them when this all happened. It’s just
been phenomenal.
Tom Ribbecke checks out the flat bass side of one of his Halfling archtop soundboards at his shop in
Healdsburg, California. |
“When Oprah saw the documentary, she
went nuts,” Ribbecke continues. “She thought
it belonged on prime-time TV, because she felt
it was a great bit of social work. We got a lot
of attention because of that. But ultimately, the
truth of the matter is that—and this goes to the
core of my belief about guitar making—I believe
guitars are extraordinary collections of energy.”
Ribbecke’s Guitar Planet was purchased by
the producers of
Extreme Home Makeover,
but is currently simmering on a back burner.
Ribbecke believes the current economy is such
that it probably won’t air, but you can still view
the trailer online. Go to
guitarplanet.org and
click on the “Promo Clip” link at the bottom
of the page.
The Final 25
Ribbecke recently made an announcement on his
website that he was accepting the last 25 orders
for his private workshop. “There’s a four- to
five-year wait for a guitar from my private shop.
I’m 58 years old and I’ve been doing this 15
hours a day my whole life. I don’t know how to
live in a moderate way, so this is what I’ve done.
The Final 25 guitars are guitars that nobody
else touches but me. My helpers don’t work on
them—they’re my final work. And each one of
them I want to be extraordinary. It’s not about
decorative work as much as it’s about art and
design. I don’t want to do tons of inlay. I’ll be
working with shapes and sonic development.
I’ve got some instruments that I don’t even want
to talk about yet, because they’re new developments.
I just figured out a new way to buffer the
rim of a soundboard, which I think will be very
microphonic. I think it will create a whole new
type of instrument. But each of those final 25
orders will be the best that I can do—museum-quality
pieces that I’ve built with materials I’ve
been stashing for 38 years. The best material that
I have. The most focus from me. The highest
way that I can realize whatever their dream is.”
Which brings us back to dreams and the
stuff they’re made of. Like Honduran mahogany,
German spruce, and the pure mojo of
people who are in it because they truly love it.
Ribbecke’s father taught him the true meaning
of the Latin word
amateur many years ago. “He
used to say, ‘Thirty years from now, I hope you
can tell me you still love these guitars,’ and that’s
a lesson I’ve never forgotten. Every day I think
about that, and even when I hate doing what I’m
doing I find a way to love it because that’s what’s
essential to keep it going.”