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Ribbecke Halfling Pinbridge Archtop Guitar From Tom Ribbecke

17" hybrid archtop/flattop guitar

Our product photos are the actual, specific serial number for sale!

This specific item was photographed by us here in Durham, North Carolina. We are a very small team dedicated to providing you the most accurate photos possible, through our obsessive focus - individually photographing nearly everything that comes through the door. Questions about what you see? Want more information, photos, or just a friendly conversation with someone that cares and who has actually had their hands on this exact item? Contact us now!

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See something you like? This item is gone, but not forever. It can be special ordered, and even customized!

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Because of our special relationship with Tom Ribbecke we can get this as fast, or faster than anyone in the industry. In some cases, we even have preferred build slots we can offer you.

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What We Think

As someone who is primarily a jazz player and very much accustomed to archtop guitars, this instrument is the greatest acoustic guitar imaginable. By adjusting picking style and moving closer to the bridge, this guitar can produce sounds reminiscent of flatpicking on an incredible boutique flattop (only better to my archtop honed ears)! The sparkle and high end punch typical of a flattop acoustic is supported extremely well by a cushion of warmth and depth. The low end rounds out the shimmer of the highs so well that, depending on your technique, you can produce a very convincing acoustic or archtop tone and everywhere in between!

Plugged in, this guitar is far superior to many traditional acoustics where the amplified tone is usually less than desirable. This halfling actually rounds out alot of the boxiness that plagues many amplified acoustics, and with the right eq settings you can really dail in a wide variety of sounds. Plugged in to an Acoustic Image Clarus + through a Raezer's Edge Stealth 10, I scooped out the mids, put the treble and bass around 12 o'clock and was amazed at the clarity, warmth, and note seperation.

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Ribbecke Halfling Pinbridge Archtop Acoustic Guitar Demo

The Halfling Pinbridge Archtop Acoustic Guitar from luthier Tom Ribbecke offers the best of two worlds. The patented off-set arch provides both flat and archtop qualities producing a hard-hitting mid-range and huge bass responses. This guitar's off-set sound hole allows for an incredibly unique listening experience as a player. A Sitka Spruce top, Indian Rosewood back and sides with a Mahogany neck and Ebony fingerboard make up this exceptional guitar. Please contact Sound Pure today if you are interested in this extraordinary guitar from Tom Ribbecke.

Signal Chain
- Ribbecke Halfling Pinbridge Archtop Guitar
- Lauten Audio Oceanus LT-381 Microphone
- Peluso 22 251 Switchable Pattern Tube Microphone
- Lavry AD10 2 Channel A /D Converter
- Lynx Aurora 16 I/O D/A and A/D Converter
- Phoenix Audio DRS8 mk2 Microphone Preamp

Manufacturer's Description from Tom Ribbecke

We've applied our revolutionary Halfling technology to the world of the Steel String! With our characteristic sustain and energy storage in the top as well as enhanced dimensional acoustics this is the Steel String guitar for the discriminating player!

Playing the guitar, I was particularly impressed by the way that notes appeared to continue their dynamic development even after my fingers had left the string. Combined with the rich bass, great clarity, and expansive volume, the guitar offered a sonic experience quite unlike any other instrument I've had the pleasure to make music with.ý -Teja Gerken, Acoustic Guitar Magazine

About Manufacturer

The Halfling project The Halfling is a unique and proprietary design of guitar or Bass that uses the concepts of advanced luthiery design to create a more versatile and efficient stringed instrument by combining the flat bass side of a Steel string or Classicalguitar top with the carved or arched treble side of the soundboard, to create an instrument that is capable of large full fundamental bass response with the separation of course (ability to hear and distinguish all the notes of a complex chord when ringing together. The traditional way of looking at the soundboard dictates the concept of either a flat thin top as in the Martin style steel string guitar, or the arched top for Jazz like the DAngelico or Gibson instrument. We have combined the best of both worlds for the contemporary guitarist whose literature now crosses over into both worlds( see artist quotes in the testimonial section) This is the logical conclusion of years of research and development beginning with the Sound Bubble guitars in the 80's and when Paul Szmanda gave me the opportunity to build something that I always wanterd to do The first Halfling was created. I also had the opportunity to work with the incredible Bassist Bobby Vega for whom I could not just build an oversize guitar with four strings, this is an artist who really required something special and he was patient enough for me to build the Bobby Vega model Halfling bass!

All of this led to the founding of a new company : the Ribbecke Guitar Corporation , wholly a separate entity from my private practice( Ribbecke Guitars) This new company was founded to bring a domestically built less expensive instrument to be built on a production basis. Dealer inquiries are welcome and the Bobby Vega Halfling Bass will be ready to ship by June of 2005. Available in either a fretted or unfretted model watch the site and we will update the project regularly These instruments are identified as Hafling guitars and basses. The Bass will be the only model available for the next year or so with guitars coming on line in about 18 months. A Halfling model guitar or Bass can be ordered from my own private practice as well and of course these are direct order instruments built to your specs and with all hand processes at a substantially higher price point. They are hand voiced and fussed over as are all my private practice instruments! And are only available direct from me?. We have a quartet under construction! A true collectors group!