1983 Robert Ruck No. 283 SP/CSAR

Year	1983
Top	Spruce
Back & Sides	CSA Rosewood
Scale Length	646 mm
Nut width	54 mm
Finish	French Polish
Country	USA
Luthier	Robert Ruck

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Detail of the rosette of a 1983 Robert Ruck classical guitar made of spruce and CSA rosewood

The back and sides of a 1983 Robert Ruck classical guitar made of spruce and CSA rosewood

The bridge, tie-block and saddle of a 1983 Robert Ruck classical guitar made of spruce and CSA rosewood

Detail of the back center seam of a 1983 Robert Ruck classical guitar made of spruce and CSA rosewood

The headstock and tuning machines of a 1983 Robert Ruck classical guitar made of spruce and CSA rosewood

The front of a 1983 Robert Ruck classical guitar made of spruce and CSA rosewood

The side of a 1983 Robert Ruck classical guitar made of spruce and CSA rosewood

The back of a 1983 Robert Ruck classical guitar made of spruce and CSA rosewood

The rosette of a 1983 Robert Ruck classical guitar made of spruce and CSA rosewood

The headstock of a 1983 Robert Ruck classical guitar made of spruce and CSA rosewood

The label of a 1983 Robert Ruck classical guitar made of spruce and CSA rosewood

Claude Debussy's "Arabesque No. 1" performed by Josh Moore on a 1983 Robert Ruck

Description

This 1983 Robert Ruck is a spruce and CSA rosewood classical guitar, No. 283, with a 25.5-inch (about 646 mm) scale.

No. 283, Scale in Inches

The label – “R. S. Ruck” beside his round emblem – is dated by hand and signed “Robert Ruck”, with #283 beside the signature. Unusually, Ruck laid out this guitar’s scale in inches – 25.5 inches, about 646 mm. The materials are superb: CSA rosewood and a perfectly quartersawn spruce top full of cross-grain “aguas”.

Sound and Condition

Firm and solid, with plenty of volume and a comfortable neck, the guitar was in excellent condition with barely any signs of use after four decades. Josh Moore plays it in the video above.

Background

Robert Ruck: An American Original

Robert Ruck (1945–2018) was one of the most respected classical guitar makers in the United States, with a career of some five decades and well over a thousand instruments. He began as a flamenco guitarist in Miami – studying classical guitar with Juan Mercadal and flamenco singing with Elena Marbella – built his first guitars in the 1960s and later worked in Wisconsin and in the Pacific Northwest. In 2016 he was inducted into the Guitar Foundation of America’s Hall of Fame.

Barrueco and the Ruck Sound

The most famous Ruck of all is No. 58, the 1970s guitar on which Manuel Barrueco recorded many of his albums. Ruck guitars are known for a very firm, solid tone, deeply anchored to the fundamental of each note, with the hum of the higher partials adding texture, for surprising volume and for comfortable, easy necks. Many of his later guitars have soundports in the upper sides. His players included Sharon Isbin, Carlos Barbosa-Lima, Berta Rojas, Leo Brouwer, Gerardo Núñez and Paulo Bellinati.