Shops / Shop of the Week
Shop of the Week: Rikaxxe Music, Broadmead
As I approached Rikaxxe, a cigarette-adorned and weather-beaten man sat at the bus stop outside playing a rendition of House of The Rising Sun on a jet-black acoustic guitar.
It was a fitting welcome to what is, according to owner Richard “Rik” Singleton, the only guitar shop in the world insured for guitars up to €500,000.
As I stepped into the guitar shop, I was met by the staff engaged with a client about the rapidly diminishing brick-and-mortar music market.
“You can’t make any money, and it’s full of hassle, so why bother?” said one staff member.
I sat down with Singleton, a barefooted 62-year-old man hailing from South Wales.
Richard Singleton learned his trade after a warehouse error gave him a crash course in guitar setting
He pulled up a drummers stool to sit on, whilst I planted myself on a cajon.
Rikaxxe (the name being an amalgamation of Rik and ‘Axe’ – a colloquial term for a guitar) moved from Monmouth 25 years ago to its current location on Bond Street.
It has managed to survive the shrinking profit margins afforded to most music shops by offering something different: setting guitars.
Setting is the process of getting a guitar into perfect playing condition. It is a highly technical procedure, with any minor error leading to potentially irreversible damage to the guitar.
Rikaxxe sells a mix of guitars, ukuleles and amps
Earlier in life while working in a warehouse, Singleton had the opportunity to set 600 guitars over an 18-month period following a shipping error that led to those guitars becoming unsellable.
With the practice he gained, he was able to reliably set nearly any guitar you put in front of him.
The original Rikaxxe in Monmouth was the only music shop within 14 miles of the legendary Rockfield Studios, allowing Rik unique access to supply some of the most prestigious musicians.
He estimates he sets eight or nine £100,000 guitars a year.
Rather than returning them to customers by road, he has a far more exciting method of travel: flying them in his personal helicopter.
Yes, this expert guitar setter is a chopper pilot too – and what’s more, it works out cheaper to fly his guitars than to take them in the car due to expensive road insurance.
On the reason we need physical music shops, Rik believes no two pieces of wood can be the same, therefore no two guitars are ever the same.
In his words: “Set a day aside, set a budget, get into town and try everything within it.
“You never know what you might fall in love with.”
All Photos: Oliver MacKenzie
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