1994 Robert Ruck No. 577 CD/CSAR (ex Berta Rojas)

This 1994 Robert Ruck is a cedar and CSA rosewood classical guitar, No. 577, that Ruck first built for himself – and that became the main guitar of Berta Rojas for twelve years.

“Made for Robert Ruck by Robert Ruck”

An inscription under the soundhole reads “made for Robert Ruck by Robert Ruck”. In 1996 the Grammy-nominated Paraguayan guitarist Berta Rojas received the guitar directly from Ruck, and it was her main recording and touring instrument from 1996 until 2008 – and it is this very guitar she plays in her film of Barrios’s “La Catedral”. The label – “R. S. Ruck” beside his round emblem – is dated by hand and signed “Robert Ruck”, numbered #577.

Sound and Condition

Firm and solid, with surprising volume – much like a great Miguel Rodríguez – and an easy neck. There are no cracks or structural repairs; before it was sold, Ruck himself re-fretted it and polished the top to cover playing wear.

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.

Books on Robert Ruck

A 1978 Ruck from the Russell Cleveland collection, No. 162, appears in “The Classical Guitar – A Complete History”:

The Classical Guitar – A Complete History