Thursday, April 10, 2008

Ruokangas Duke

Posted by Jon in • Cool Guitars,

Ruokangas Duke
If you are in the market for a European hand made guitar you should definitely check out Finland’s Ruokangas Guitars. The model shown in the photo above is the Duke Deluxe which features an exotic carved top made from a highly figured flamed Arctic Birch which is very rare originating from the northern parts of Finland so I imagine the price tag on this particular guitar would be fairly high, I found this one for sale priced at $5000. The body is made from Spanish Cedar a wood favoured by many classical guitar makers for its tone and strength. The neck is a 3-piece laminated Spanish Cedar neck with genuine Pearl inlays for the logo and the 12th fret of the Ebony fretboard. Now the nut is made from Moose chin bone and I don’t think I have ever heard anyone using that before, but it adds to the exotic nature of this instrument! The Truss Rod in the neck is a 2-way which is adjustable at the body rather than the headstock, which is normal for these type of Truss Rods. The pickups are either Ruokangas Dukebucker or SingleSonic pickups and the hardware is all Schaller: tune-o-matic bridge and tailpiece; locking tuners and straplocks. The standard wiring with Dukebucker pickups includes 3 push/pull pots and a 3-way toggle switch. The most common controls are vol-tone-tone - and the push/pull functions are phaseswitch and splitting of both pickups. There is also a 20 year warranty!!

Check out www.ruokangas.com for more information including detailed information on the wood selection for their guitars, the choice of neck profiles on offer and their construction techniques. Also be sure to check out their ‘Virtual Workshop’ in the ‘Features’ section where you can build your own guitar.

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