A STATEMENT FROM YOUR PROPRIETOR

Pardon the form-letterish mood that this page calls to mind! Upon consideration, I thought that the somewhat impersonal nature of this sort of thing might be overlooked or at least tempered by my effort to “keep in touch”, at least this once, after so long. I often think of every one of my USA friends, otherwise I would not have made this effort to bring things current, and to explain this massive delay in communicating, I most certainly have not forgotten you, all and individually. Don’t feel the need to respond; your own priorities will take precedence, and besides, if you have any curiosity about my life over these past years, this should help to bring things current!

The entire, intense, 18-month process of wading through the bureaucracy of two countries, filling out dozens of forms in two languages, booking appointments, attending meetings, arranging for meetings, hiring a real estate agent, mortgage broker, and attorney in Italy, dealing with banks, opening up accounts in Italy, reserving moving containers, readying our vehicles, disposing of personal property that would not be needed in the EU, and hundreds of other details, large and small, all came to a head beginning on October 20, 2020, when our house closed escrow.

Our Extended (retirement) visas were only granted the day before Thanksgiving, 2020. This was a HUGE surprise; as a result of this timing, we had only about ten days to complete our chores; to dot the eyes and cross the tees so that everything came together in a timely fashion for our pre-booked departure from SFO to Modena on December 2nd. (We were about to move the departure date when the visas arrived at our Ventura County, California, address.) We decided to hold the December 2nd date, and we got little sleep for those ten nights. Because everything was locked down, the only people who we could actually say goodbye to, were the friends and acquaintances who we encountered by chance in our daily errand-running.

So, there was absolutely zero time to spend with friends (who had commitments of their own to attend to!), with the result being that we “blew outta Dodge” without proper completion of this very important task. Our sincerest apologies. We hope you can remember how chaotic 2020 was, without tossing the international relocation process into the mix, too!

Here we are, a bit over four years later, attempting to make amends. Hopefully this all-too-brief essay will smooth things over for you.

This website will be an ongoing, continuously-evolving effort to document my creative life and the results of my efforts to bring together all of my products and my several design-related careers beginning in 1959, and culminating in my present-day involvements. I’m a wordy (not “worldly”) guy, and I document most of my creative output; my photo application has about 27,000 images of cars, guitars, and various other subjects that intrigue me in some way. My SONY digital cameras—FIVE of them, identical, so I could always have one at hand along with a couple of spares in case of a breakdown—the sensors on these tend to be a bit delicate. In 2010, the SONYs began to be supplanted by my iPhone cameras, and once I acquired my iPhone 11 MaxPro a few years back, I’ve been upgrading every Fall and now I’m using the iPhone almost exclusively for my photographic tasks. The quality and post-effects, along with apps like Photoshop (Which I’ve been using since PS 5) are, for me, the best and most efficient way to illustrate my words.

So, if this piques your interest, you can wade as deeply as your curiosity motivates you to enjoy many of my memories. Right now, it’s only about a dozen pages, but I’ll be adding frequently to this number. I don’t expect that everyone will find everything I say and display to be interesting. Enjoy until you can’t enjoy any more. Maybe this one page will be enough for you; in the case of my ex-students and closer friends, a deeper immersion may prove more satisfying.

I continue to work on my projects and my business nearly every day. Having my workshop a mere twenty-five steps from my front door here in Modena, in a soundproof brick and stucco industrial building with double-pane windows, means that I can work day and night if I’m so inclined, and whenever the mood strikes me.

AHEM. Just go ahead and wander through the pages. Read the words and contemplate the photos. If you have any questions and/or comments, you can contact me at rickacoustics@me.com. And, don’t forget to spend some time on my guitar collecting and luthiery website at WWW.STUDIO-CALIFORNIA.COM!

THERE ARE OVER 200 PROJECTS ON THAT SITE.

—PW