Human Resources ...

[ap404]

Ignore the favourable comparisons to a certain 17th century Cremonese fiddle maker and spare a thought for Tom Ribbecke's HR issues, not to mention his workcover situation ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psKLqMRQkMk


'yeah, I had to take the whole summer off work, I can barely hold a drumstick, you know ?'

If like me, you appreciate those little stickers on bandsaws that show the hand with the missing fingers, maybe you could watch this video ( give or take the arse cheeks and the bit about Stardivari ) occasionally as a warning to keep an eye on where both your hands are at all times in the workshop. And maybe take the footage of Tom shredding one of his masterpieces after work as a cautionary tale too ...

You'll laugh, you'll shudder, you'll duck involuntarily at the point towards the end of the film where a guitar neck on a pin-router almost gets airborne.

Cheers, A.P.

[Allen]

I'm turning into a grumpy old man I think. I'd sack the lot of them.

[Hesh1956]

Allen bro you are a grumpy old man..........

Great video!!!!!

[Allen]

No doubt about it!

I was given some snot nosed kid on Monday for work experience. The ass of his pants was hanging around his knees. Must have had something really interesting in his pockets, 'cause he kept his hands in them most of the time. Didn't know a hammer from a socket wrench, but figured that panel beating was his calling. Didn't last 2 days because he wanted to be out the door before quiting time because thats when his mommy was picking him up, and let all the rest of us clean up and close the shop.

Well not on your life. I think I might have made him cry...

And back to the video. That would be the day that I'd let something like that out that was to represent my product and company. I don't care how good any of them might be at their particular job...very unprofessional.

Ok, now I feel better. Time to knock the top of another cold one.

[ap404]

That would be the day that I'd let something like that out that was to represent my product and company.

My first thought exactly.

Curious isn't it ?

In other news on his site he has announced that he's filling all orders for the rest of his custom, commisioned guitar making life ( US$10k deposit, starting price US$25k, approx 5 year wait ) Only 9 places left !

With that in mind and after reading his site today, I came to the conclusion that he's gathered these disfunctional kids around him and with his own family; there's a stepson and wife and daughter ( she of the Stradivari reference ) he's running a combined 'social experiment/high end guitar workshop/extended family', letting the world ( well, the internet anyway ) watch what happens ... and loving it.

This video is actually a pilot episode for a proposed doco/reality TV thing centred around his shop ( looks like it never got off the ground as it's a few years old ). Ribbecke was a film major in his youth apparently.

It's a kind of reality TV car-crash viewing that I would never have associated with guitarmaking but it's made me think ... right now i'm thinking it's refreshing to see a guy who's got no fears about ruining his rep. What else can you do with a rep anyway if you're succesful and a bit bored ? ( and i'm still thinking about the 5hp Router ... )

Thoughts ?

Allen I fully understand your reaction ( especially after the start to your week )

I can't imagine any proffesional running a shop this way and actually surviving. I guess this vid doesn't show much of the guitar making that must go on when things aren't blowing up ... and any ex-film major knows that there's more than one way to edit a bunch of footage, in this case it's a character piece and it focusses on the f$%k ups more than the less entertaining succeses. Well, actually Tom comes off looking pretty good compared to everything going on around him ( except maybe for the blues jam bit ).

A.P.

[Dave White]

A.P,

Thanks for posting that - you've made my day!! My respect for Tom Ribbecke has just soared - his attitude, sense of humour and approach to and trust in people (as opposed to their appearance) and life is just superb. That would be one hell of a place to work - frustrating at times but real life!!

That would be the day that I'd let something like that out that was to represent my product and company.

I actually disagree. I can only applaud someone who when examining a broken side on camera says "The good news is I think I can fix it, the bad news is it may be your guitar". People are queing up to buy his guitars because they are great guitars which he makes with passion and soul (forget the Stradivarius bullshit), not made by a maker who is so anal that they bury their "mistakes" in the dead of night, ouse perfection and slickness and look as if they themselves were made by a CNC machine. Sometimes the slick American marketing PR bollocks and the worship of visually/cosmetically perfection in instruments covers up what these things are all about:

"Really what it is is it's about that 5% orgiastic chance to get to get your hand near the face of god and it's about 95% total sasuage making"

Talking of sasuage making it looks like if a few body parts go flying then Mike will eat them

[Paul B]

No doubt about it!

I was given some snot nosed kid on Monday for work experience. The ass of his pants was hanging around his knees. Must have had something really interesting in his pockets, 'cause he kept his hands in them most of the time. Didn't know a hammer from a socket wrench, but figured that panel beating was his calling. Didn't last 2 days because he wanted to be out the door before quiting time because thats when his mommy was picking him up, and let all the rest of us clean up and close the shop.

We had one like that a year or two ago. Really helpful kid - think they called him an intern, means much the same thing tho. He figured it'd be a great idea to put all our tools away for us while we were at lunch. As you can imagine we were all stoked to come back from lunch and have to spend the next 45 minutes hunting around for tools.

He's lucky to be alive.

[gratay]

I can't believe Tom Ribbecke is actually serious about patching up that side for a customers guitar or whether he's said that just for the camera. At the price they sell for you'd hope there was no major fixes like a side broken in 2.
Maybe I could ask for a 0 be taken off the end of the price tag ..probably never even see the repair anyway.