Naturally the first stop was Richard Polt’s site, where he lists a handful of purveyors. I’ve heard good things in general about Baco both from Richard and Joe Van Cleave as well as others in the past few months, so I took the plunge and ordered a full reel of 660 yards of nylon black/red typewriter ribbon for $65. It should keep all my machines inked for quite a while.
Given that the typical standard/universal spool will accommodate 16 yards, this should be 41.25 spools. This also brings the price down to a far more economical $1.60 per spool versus the much higher level others are charging, particularly since I generally self-wind my own ribbon onto original metal spools and don’t need the additional plastic waste. It also has the added benefit of supporting the efforts of Charlene Oesch until she decides to retire.
If you’re in the market, here are the basic details to call and place an order (she specifically doesn’t have and doesn’t want a website), but she’s definitely still in business, carrying on in the tradition of her father since at least 1949:
1521 Carman Road
Ballwin, MO 63021 United States
bacoribbon@sbcglobal.net
+1 (314) 835-9300
+1 (536) 394-5475 (fax)
Baco takes both credit card and PayPal and ships within about a day via USPS in the United States.
Current offerings/pricing (subject to change):
- 660 yards (full reel) of nylon ribbon in black or black/red for $65
- 330 yards (half reel) of nylon ribbon in black or black/red for $45
- 550 yards of silk ribbon in black or black/red for $220
- 295 yards of cotton in black or black/red for $75
With some lead time, she can do other colors if necessary, though she typically doesn’t keep those in stock all the time according to our conversation today. She has the option to pretty easily do blue, green, and purple in single colored reels.
I could be in for some blue/green or purple/green ribbon, which I imagine she could pull off if anyone wanted to go in on a reel or so to make it worth the time and effort to set it up. Let me know if you’re interested. Similarly if someone wanted to split an order for silk, I could be game for that too.
Have you tried other manufacturers? Who is your favorite bulk ribbon supplier?
Now I’m off to find some grommets and a custom pair of pliers for them…
@chrisaldrich
I managed to pick up a few ribbons on spools cheap from someone selling up. I even got some nice original 1960’s metal spools! Every new one I’ve bought, regardless of price has clearly come from the same factory – same packaging and printing. I don’t think there’s a bulk ribbon supplier in the UK now.
Excellent price you got. Spools here typically come with 10 metres of ribbon, a little under 11 yards, so your equivalent spool price is nearer $1.07, I think!
@TonyJWells I do wonder who is making the cheap plastic disposable spools every one is using…
@chrisaldrich cool. I still have a couple of typewriters as nostalgia items. One i9s a Selectric a marvel of a machine but the need to be used or they freeze up.
A full reel of 660 yards of black and red nylon bichrome typewriter ribbon just landed on my doorstep in the morning mail from Baco Ribbon. Who’s up for a type-in in the Los Angeles area?