About Us, But First The Elephant
Let’s get this out of the way: even though the marketing materials say “our” and “we” and “us”, at the time of this writing, Cleveland Music Co. is just a single dude’s passion project. It simply sounds better than referring to myself in just about any form. My name is Ricky, and this is what I do after recently retiring early and moving back to my hometown of Cleveland, OH. (Hooray for the Great Resignation!)
After attending Berklee College of Music, I worked as a professional musician and guitarist in Nashville, Boston, NYC and other places for several years, and I met my wife via that career. Later, when we decided to come off the road to raise a family, I opted for what we call “Career v2.0”: software and hardware engineering. I did that for a few decades and mostly enjoyed it. But I never stopped playing guitar or building amps or designing audio circuits and PCBs for myself and others as a side hustle. Today, I still grin when seeing things I custom built for working musicians many years ago being sold on the used market to other working musicians.
And now I’ve retired from Career v2.0, and you’re up to speed on everything … except for the time we bought a bookstore and opened a coffee shop on the coast of Maine. But that’s a 2 beer minimum story for another time.
Music and Engineering Are Our Passions
Like you, we write, record, and play music just about every day. We know the challenges and the opportunities it presents. We get it. And we still love to tinker with music gear and exercise our music production and engineering skills. But what really gets us amped is designing and creating music-making devices and instruments that fill specific needs. Whether that’s in the studio, on the road, or at the dive bar on the corner.
Cleveland Music Co. is passionate about developing and building high-quality products at reasonable prices. We’re also obsessive about creating manufacturing processes that repeatably yield predictable, pro-quality results with minimal cost layout. (Nerdy maker-type thinking that helps us keep expenses low and value high.) This attention to detail is critical for a small operation that does limited-run production. Whether it’s a product from our soon-to-grow catalogue of kits and PCBs for DIYers, a pedal, a custom amp, or a bespoke guitar, we are confident you’ll find real value in anything with our name on it.
Be sure to come back here periodically for updates, and follow us on Instagram for the occasional giveaway contest as we get things rolling. We’re just getting started and we hope you’ll come along for the ride. But most of all, we hope that you’ll be creating awesome music all the way!
Ricky Sheaves
December 2022