Tiny Telephone Oakland, photographed on Oct 15, 2016. STAFF.

UPDATED 9:30 a.m., April 24. — John Vanderslice‘s Tiny Telephone studio in Oakland has now raised more than $38,000 of its $75,000-goal following a break-in burglary on April 15.

Thieves forced their way into the studio, in the 5700 block of Lowell Street, before absconding with instruments and recording equipment valued in the tens of thousands of dollars. These included all of Tiny Telephone’s electric guitars and basses. Vanderslice, who moved from San Francisco to Los Angeles during the pandemic, noted one vintage microphone, a 1961 Telefunken U47, valued at $38,000 alone.

To get to the studio, the thieves had to force their way through two secured doors.

“Oakland PD is not letting us fill out a police report … it’s insane how hard they make it. We’ve been doing this all day every day a week and no progress,” Vanderslice said on Monday, April 24. RIFF has reached out to the Oakland Police Department Monday morning and has not yet heard back.

Vanderslice opened the Oakland location in 2016, giving RIFF and others a tour of the beautiful wood-paneled rooms, warm decorations and the studio’s gear. The original San Francisco location near Potrero del Sol Park, which Vanderslice opened in 1997, was where Death Cab for Cutie, the Mountain Goats, Nada Surf, St. Vincent, Spoon, Sleater-Kinney and many Bay Area artists like Shannon and the Clams recorded. Vanderslice closed the space in 2020 when the owners were planning to raze the building to make way for housing. One of the first musicians to use the Oakland studio was Tune-Yards. The artists at both locations recorded in analog rather than digital technology.

“These are things we use daily to make music, beloved by the engineers and artists that record at Tiny Telephone. If you’ve ever played the Nash Telecaster or heard that U47, you know what I’m talking about!” Vanderslice wrote in his GoFundMe. “Thankfully, nobody was hurt but the damage to the studio and the loss of equipment is incredibly painful – we’re a small arts organization in Oakland, without any kind of corporate backing or tech money behind us. At our current rates, it would take years of booked studio time to pay for everything.”

damn it. i hate to be here tell you about this. and i hate that it happened. we got seriously robbed the other night and we lost some stuff we will never be able to get back. please share and amplify this, we have lots debt coming our way. THANK YOU!! https://t.co/sDEefV8iii pic.twitter.com/tjHCKtr7Ik

— John Vanderslice (@johnvanderslice) April 19, 2023

Money raised through the GoFundMe account will go toward replace some of the stolen instruments and gear, repair damage to the studio and to improve security. Vanderslice said the studio has already purchased new solid medal doors, at a cost of $14,000.

“It will slow down crews a little more next time,” he said.

Partial list of instruments stolen from Tiny Telephone:

• 1961 Telefunken U47 #2233 microphone
• 1952 RCA 77DX microphone
• 1972 Fender Stratocaster
• 1959 Gibson ES 125
• Nash Telecaster #KM117
• Nash P Bass #6172
• Teisco Electric