Ohana Mau Lou (Nobody Gets Left Behind)

No Customer Is Ever Left Behind

My (Richard) aim is to have a positive impact on those I am connected with, in the pursuit of making people happy through my lifelong passion - guitars.

With a holistic approach to life and how I see the World, and the knowledge everything is connected, there is no divide between my "work" and family life.

On my arm is a tattoo...

It depicts a tree that I drew and the words "Ohana Mau Lou" which translates to "Nobody is left behind"

The literal translation is "family" never gets left behind, but the wonderful thing is in Hawaii where this originates, family is considered to be anyone you connect with through your life who you value - and hence why it became such an important symbolism for me - as I have always lived my life wanting to support those who have shown kindness or support to me - who wouldn't right?

The tree? Well you may have seen symbolisms such as the "tree of life" - Always a very strong looking thing with deep routes - well I wanted my tree to be a little more representative of me, so a little blown in the wind, with the leaves depicting my immediate and wider guitar family. I feel the tree has an embracing posture which I feel depicts my intention in life.

And of course - still standing - with purpose :)

I hold a strong belief in giving back twice over what someone gives me. When someone trusts to invest in me (Richards Guitars), I ensure they always know how appreciated and truly valued they are - and will remain - as my appreciation for them will never fade.

Feel free to read some of what I believe are the key points of my time in guitar retail which will help you know a little more about me personally, and about the highly personalized service we provide - not to mention the unique benchmark setting guitars we promote, some of which we have been specialising in now since I began 30 years ago.

July 1st 1995

This page (from proud mums scrap book!), shows me on my first day of my journey into guitar retail - and as you can see I am bringing with me my tuition business that I started a couple of years earlier.

My aim was to ensure every single guitar I sold was set up beautifully so that my pupils could always be inspired when they were learning - and not hindered by a poor playing instrument (I had been shocked by how often this was the case - even on more expensive guitars)

Buy LAG TRAMONTANE 118 T118ASCE-BRS AUDITORIUM SLIM CUT ELECTRO BROWN SHADOWw' £225 Custom Pro Setup Package Included

My Website Has Always Been An Outlet To Share Information, Education & Passion

From the conception, I was using the internet (my website) to update customers on latest guitar news and anything I thought would be of interest. I also ran a guitar forum to bring guitarists together in a way that had never been experienced before.

Bare in mind this was "old school" era (30 years ago) - I learned how to create a page and upload it via AOL Dial Up!

I would give out cards to customers who visited which would have my "website address" printed on it (which people would find fascinating/amusing) most of whom didn't even have an email address!

I was constantly told by industry folk that guitars will never sell online - little did they know that online business was already changing my life - and theirs, in ways they could never imagine.

Inconvenient Truths

As I now realize are part of every industry - and all areas of society.

"Inconvenient" truths are truths that are best not spoken about in the name of profit and "growth".

There is a phrase "never meet your heros" and this was never more true than my experience dealing with the likes of Gibson. I constantly struggled with the commercial realities of brand perception vs the brand reality.

My every day would be dominated by Fender & Gibson enqiuries - but only wanted to talk about this wonderful brand I just learned about ... Gordon Smith!

My showroom would be full of Taylors, Martins, Takamine & Yamaha - but I had now found a brand that stole my heart completely, to the point it made me feel like my reality to that point had been build on a lie! This brand was called Stonebridge - and this was 25 YEARS ago! Later to become Furch.

To this day, I continue to love promoting these incredible brands which have a genuine story to tell - one based on tone, feel, build quality, dedication to the pursuit of greatness!!

Every brand I recommend is a genuine benchmark and I will put my reputation behind every one.

Our Beautiful Showroom

This is the space where we aim to bring you the most wonderful experiences - which will hopefully become memories for years to come :)

Our customers often return their second, third and dare I say we even have customers with over 20 guitars purchssed from our shop over many years!

Whetther you purchase one or 21, we not only consider you as a highly valued customer but a friend and extended family member of our Richards Guitars community of guitarists.

Valiant Guitars. A Truly World Class & Utterly Unique Electric Guitar Brand

There is nothing more exciting for me personally than putting a guitar in someone's hands and watch that "penny drop" moment and the smile that immediately follows, and the comment "Why have I never heard of these?!!"

The advent of the Internet has enabled independent voices to give exposure to brands that would have otherwise been hidden under the massive marketing campaigns of the dominant brands of yesteryear - backed up by their allies who help keep realities well and truly dampened down - the mainstream press (or anyone it would seem who prioritises profit over truth - which appears to be most)