Tom Ribbecke Custom S, 1994 (rare build)

Condition very good; nitro lacquer checking consistent with age, celluloid binding shows shrinkage and light chipping, most notably a 1/4" chip at the bottom edge of the body, nothing structural

Most people know Tom Ribbecke as one of the great archtop builders of our time. Fewer know he came up building and repairing electrics for working players in San Francisco, out of his shop in the Mission District in the '70s and early '80s. This guitar comes from that side of Tom.

It's a one-off private commission from 1994, serial number 297. A previous owner nicknamed it the "Strato-becke," which is about right. The outline says Strat, but the construction is pure Ribbecke. A chambered flamed mahogany body under a carved bigleaf maple cap, a set neck with a sculpted heel, 25" scale, and a bound ebony board. Even the headstock gets the full treatment, with an ebony face and a quilted mahogany backplate from The Tree, the same stock Tom was still drawing on for his chambered solidbodies nearly twenty years later. (Those who know, know.)

It's built to be played. Wilkinson by Gotoh floating trem, Schaller minis with ebony buttons, and a single, single, humbucker layout through a 5-way with a push-pull boost on the bridge pickup. The neck is a D shape, .87" at the 2nd fret filling out to .94" at the 12th, and it's very comfortable and smooth playing. The sound is sophisticated, clean, and articulate. A carved maple top over a mahogany back with a set neck makes it something like a marriage between a Strat and a Les Paul. That's a working player's guitar dressed in a luthier's woods.

It's 32 years old and finished in nitro, and it shows its age honestly. There's lacquer checking, the celluloid binding has shrunk and chipped in spots, and there's a quarter-inch chip at the bottom edge of the body. Nothing structural. Tom examined and set it up himself in 2014, rated it very good, and put that in writing on his letterhead. That letter comes with the guitar, along with a vintage Harptone case.

Ribbecke solidbodies rarely come to market. This is a chance to own the side of Tom most people never get to see.

If you'd like to find out more about this item, just call or e-mail me. It would be my pleasure to talk to you about it.