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Juha Ruokangas, “State of the Union” interview with the Finnish luthier – Part 3
Tuesday, 02 January 2024
Finnish luthier Juha Ruokangas (ruokangas.com) is a long-time premium subscriber to The Guitar Channel. I always enjoy interviewing him, as he is very generous and articulate in his answers. Here's an interview recorded via Zoom where he goes into great depth on the following subjects: Here's the third and last part of this interview. Thank
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Juha Ruokangas, “State of the Union” interview with the Finnish luthier – Part 2
Tuesday, 26 December 2023
Finnish luthier Juha Ruokangas (ruokangas.com) is a long-time premium subscriber to The Guitar Channel. I always enjoy interviewing him, as he is very generous and articulate in his answers. Here's an interview recorded via Zoom where he goes into great depth on the following subjects: Here's the second part of this interview. Thank you to
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Juha Ruokangas, “State of the Union” with the Finnish luthier – Part 1
Tuesday, 19 December 2023
Finnish luthier Juha Ruokangas (ruokangas.com) is a long-time premium subscriber to The Guitar Channel. I always enjoy interviewing him, as he is very generous and articulate in his answers. Here's an interview recorded via Zoom where he goes into great depth on the following subjects: Here's the first part of this interview. Thank you to
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Teuffel, Ruokangas, Spalt, Sergio and Tausch, what the guitar builders have to say about The Guitar Channel
Sunday, 08 January 2023
In January 2021, we were still in lockdown mode all over the world so there was no Winter NAMM that year. So I decided to do a live interview with several of the best and most original luthiers in Europe: Here is what they said spontaneously at the end of the interview. I was touched
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The luthiers explain why The Guitar Channel interviews are the best
Friday, 29 January 2021
During the Winter NAMM 2021 online edition, the Believe in Music week, The Guitar Channel organized a Zoom call with some of the best European luthiers, the full video is available in this article. At the end of the call, we started an informal discussion and the luthiers shared why they think the interviews done
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Winter NAMM 2021 live wrap-up – Spalt, Ruokangas, Ergon, Teuffel and Taylor Guitars
Sunday, 24 January 2021
As a wrap-up of the online edition of the 2021 Winter NAMM here is a live discussion with some of the best European boutique guitar builders who are regular exhibitors at NAMM and Andy Powers from Taylor Guitars. Guest list Projects of Three by Michael Spalt, Adriano Sergio and Ulrich Teuffel : projectsofthree.com Subjects discussed
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Unicorn Classic Ruokangas, a super high-end Les Paul type luthier guitar
Wednesday, 25 November 2020
Ruokangas (ruokangas.com) is a difficult name to pronounce for us but it's a well known name on The Guitar Channel since there have already been several interviews with luthier Juha Ruokangas as well as several luthier chronicles. In the category of high-end luthier guitars, here is the Unicorn Classic, the reinterpretation of the Les Paul
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As part of the service proposed to boutique guitar builders to exhibit and try out instruments in the private showroom of The Guitar Channel in Paris, here is the Unicorn Classic coming from Finland and built by Ruokangas Guitars (ruokangas.com) led by master builder Juha Ruokangas. Ruokangas Unicorn Classic Unicorn Classic Ruokangas Specs Amount of
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Valvebucker, the tube powered guitar pickup invented by Juha Ruokangas
Friday, 22 May 2020
Juha Ruokangas is a Finnish luthier who leads a small team of highly skilled craftsmen. Ruokangas Guitars builds high-end electric guitars and basses. In 2014 at the Holy Grail Guitar Show in Berlin, Juha Ruokangas presented the Nemo guitar, a prototype electric guitar with a tube pickup, the Valvebucker. It wasn't until 2019 that the
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Juha Ruokangas master guitar builder lockdown interview from Finland
Wednesday, 06 May 2020
As part of the lockdown Stay-at-Home period linked to the Coronavirus, this is one of the live interviews freely broadcasted to highlight musicians and other music pros impacted by this situation. Live Interviews Schedule Juha Ruokangas interview Juha Ruokangas is the mastermind and luthier behind Ruokangas Guitars. He was the guest of this lockdown interview
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Juha Ruokangas interview – Valvebucker presentation – NAMM 2019
Thursday, 07 March 2019
In the field of high-end lutherie, one of the big novelties presented at the NAMM was the Valvebucker, this tube pickup developed by the Finnish luthier Juha Ruokangas. In 2014, at the Holy Grail Guitar Show in Berlin, Juha had presented a prototype of this microphone in the Nemo guitar, finally the version released 5
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NAMM 2019 interviews – Day 1: Taylor / Ruokangas / Etienne / Oz Noy
Monday, 04 February 2019
Very good start for the first day of the NAMM show with 4 interviews recorded on Thursday. Interviews of the day Andy Powers - Taylor Guitars Juha Ruokangas Sylvestre Etienne Oz Noy Until the next interview, keep on playing the guitar! Pierre Journel. [cta_video text="Full videos reserved for subscribers"]
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Interviews done on Sunday May 6th 2018 at what has become the great guitar show for high end lutherie instrument that is the Holy Grail Guitar Show with luthiers and pickup builders: Juha Ruokangas - Ruokangas Guitars Jort Heijen - Red Layer Guitars Lindy Fralin - Fralin Pickups Jason Lollar - Lollar Pickups Ivan Mulia - iVee
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One of the novelties of the 2018 edition of the Holy Grail Guitar Show was the presentation by the Finnish luthier Juha Ruokangas of a new guitar model, the Emma Maria archtop, named after his wife. Here is an interview to know everything about what led this luthier to develop this new instrument in a category
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Here is in review a new exceptional guitar, the Unicorn Classic model built in the Finnish luthier Juha Ruokangas workshop. It is an instrument that was kindly lent me by a backstager (thank you David!). Given the very small number of guitars made by Juha and his team, it was an unexpected opportunity to test a guitar of this caliber.
We are indeed here in the super high-end realm. The price of this model with the options included in this specific instrument (superb table, gold hardware, etc.) requires a budget of about 9 500 €.
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Mojo Classic Ruokangas Guitars review – A Telecaster coming from Finland
Wednesday, 15 March 2017
Juha Ruokangas is a Finnish luthier well known on The Guitar Channel since he has been the subject of several interviews and has also animated a series of luthier chronicles. Juha (pronounced Yu-A) manufactures with a small team of luthiers instruments of very high quality entirely by hand, without the help of CNC (ie without Computer Numeric Control machine).
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Mika Tyyskä is a very original guitar player with a very personal approach about his music. Not only he is writing and playing music but he also take care of all the visual aspect of his art with his alter ego Mr Fastfinger. His latest album Spirit Rising is shock full of cool music.
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A Musician and His Luthier: Ruokangas with Mika Tyyskä aka Mr Fastfinger
Wednesday, 23 December 2015
It's a rare opportunity to do an interview with both the musician and his luthier at the same time. Here's below an interview with guitar player Mika Tyyskä (aka Mr Fastfinger) with his luthier Juha Ruokangas. It was done during the 2nd edition of the Holy Grail Guitar Show.
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I discovered Antti Paranko through the luthier Juha Ruokangas, also from Finland. In fact Antti is endorsed by Juha and has worked with him to compose some music specifically for his brand. After hearing this music (which you can hear at the beginning of every Luthier Chronicle with Juha) I decided I wanted to hear more.
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In this new chronicle I asked Juha Ruokangas about the CNC machine : is he for a against it?
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In this new chronicle I asked Juha Ruokangas about a hotly debated subject regarding set neck guitars: the size of the tenon, should it be long or short.
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In this new chronicle I asked Juha Ruokangas how he tunes the pickups he uses on his guitars.
Enjoy,
Pierre.
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In the Luthier Chronicle #4, the Finish luthier Juha Ruokangas explained how and why he uses thermo treated wood in his instrument.
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In this video I asked master builder Juha Ruokangas questions about the different ways to finish a guitars and their impacts on the sound.
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Juha Ruokangas is one of the pioneer of using thermo treated wood in instrument building. In this video of the Luthier Chronicle you will learn the whole story of this technique and how Juha uses it in his work. It's a fascinating subject.
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In this third video (see extract above) of the Luthier Chronicle with master builder Juha Ruokangas, I asked him what were his favorite woods to build instrument with.
Related pics
Juha selecting a top
Some birch wood
List of chronicles with Juha
Update on the Captain Nemo guitar
Being a luthier in Finland
His favorite woods (this chronicle)
Thermo treated wood
Varnish, nitro-cellulose, etc.
Aging of thermo treated wood guitars
Pickups
Short or long tenon?
For or against CNC machine?
Enjoy,
Pierre.
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In this second video of the Luthier Chronicle with master builder Juha Ruokangas, I asked what's different in being a luthier in a Nordic country like Finland.
Pics of the Ruokangas workshop
Until the next Luthier Chronicle, keep on playing your guitar and check-out your local luthier.
Pierre.
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On the first video of the Luthier Chronicle, master luthier Juha Ruokangas gives a full update on the Captain Nemo guitar project he introduced at the 1st Holy Grail Guitar Show.
Pics of the Captain Nemo guitar
Pics of the Valve Bucker
Until the next Luthier Chronicle, keep on playing your guitar and check-out your local luthier.
Pierre.
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The video above is a teaser for a series of nine chronicles recorded with master luthier Juha Ruokangas from Ruokangas Guitars (www.ruokangas.com). After doing an interview with Juha during the first Holy Grail Guitar Show, I wanted to go even deeper into the lutherie world and start the Luthier Chronicle to learn more about the wonderful instrument we all love.
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Juha Ruokangas interview – Builder of the Captain Nemo guitar and the Valvebucker
Thursday, 27 November 2014
Juha Ruokangas was one of the guitar builder I really wanted to meet during the Holy Grail Guitar Show, that's why I was thrilled to do a 45min video interview with him. Juha has established a brand so highly regarded in the guitar world that I had a tons of questions to ask him.
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