04/06/2025
Three Old Friends Meet Up at the Alembic Guitar Factory on the Old Redwood Highway South of Cotati 50 Years Later
In 1975, Mooka’s good friends Larry Robinson, Chet Connick, and Hobart Jacopetti got a job working at the Alembic guitar factory, location: Old Redwood Highway. Together with them and their crew of twelve other people, they created about thirty high-end basses and guitars per month, which resulted in roughly 1400 instruments being built by 1979.
The Alembic guitar factory was responsible for building instruments for legends like Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin, David Crosby, and Carlos Santana to name a few.
Mooka was in a band with Chet Connick called the Prairie Dog Rhythm Shiekhs. Mooka was privileged being an unknown musician/pig farmer when he was new in town. He was lucky to have met Larry, Chet and Hobart. During that time, Mooka would become a salesperson for Luthiers in and around the area. It later grew to a lot of his connections in the bay area, which later became his recording company, Prairie Sun Recording.
Mooka had more things to say about the Alembic guitar factory below:
How did you and Larry Robinson meet?
I met him through Chet Connick, and he recorded with me as well. Lotta wild ambient tracks with 7-string guitars.
What other artists did the Alembic factory build guitars for?
Stanley Clarke, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Phil Lesh (Grateful Dead’s bass player), and The Who as well.
How many guitars did you pick up/use at the Alembic Guitar factory?
We started with three of them. The first one was a custom 4-string with two necks by an Alembic luthier, Bruce Bec Var. The next one was built by Chet Connick. The third one was my first real Alembic, the famous 5-string Dragon bass (see photo), built by Larry Robinson himself. That has an amazing inlay. Later down the line, I picked up two more Alembics: A 1991 Stanley Clarke 4-String short scale, and a 2020 Bird of Prey medium scale.
What a real treasure these three guys are! I would also like to thank Rick Turner, Ron and Susan Wickersham (the original owners of Alembic), and the current manager, their daughter Mica!
