RIPLEY, STEVE

Steve Ripley has been a man of many traits over the years, and some of his titles include studio engineer, guitar luthier, inventor, singer/songwriter, and producer. In 1981, Ripley produced a record for Bob Dylan and he also engineered a Leon Russell album. As an inventor, he is known for tinkering with stereo effects with guitars, and in 1983 at the NAMM show, Ripley debuted his Stereo Guitar. Eddie Van Halen became interested in the guitar, which led to Ripley going to Kramer. In late 1984, Kramer licensed Ripley's designed and had him build a stereo guitar for them. The results were a Baretta-style guitar (RSG-1) and a five-string bass (RSB-5). These instruments featured pickups that had individual outputs and controls for each string that were sent in stereo. The guitar came with a splitter box to accomodate the stereo outputs. These guitars were actually branded Kramer Ripley and they all have both names on the headstock. In 1986, Ripley moved to Tulsa, OK and by 1988 he severed ties with Kramer and the stereo guitars.
Besides Ripley's relationship with Kramer guitars, he also built instruments for several artists including Eddie Van Halen, Steve Vai, Rick Veto, Jimmy Buffet, John Hyatt, and Ry Cooder. Along with his stereo guitar, Ripley also developed stereo gating, stereo tremolo, individual distortion, and a guitar neck that dropped the guitars' tuning by a full step. In the 1990s, Ripley started a country/rock band called the Tractors, and in the early 2000s, he released his first solo album. Currently, Ripley focuses on producing with his new record company called Boy Rocking Records. Sources: Tom Wheeler, American Guitars and the website Vintage Kramer.