1995 Robert Ruck "Barbero" No. 588 SP/CY

This 1995 Robert Ruck “Barbero”, No. 588, is a spruce and cypress flamenco guitar – the only bench copy of a Marcelo Barbero Ruck ever made.

Ruck’s Barbero

Ruck built this guitar for himself after he sold his own Barbero to remodel his kitchen, and it is an exact copy – what it would be like to buy a brand-new Barbero. One crack in the back, which happened during construction, was cleated by Ruck and sits under the label, invisible inside and out. The label – “R. S. Ruck” beside his round emblem – is dated by hand and signed “Robert Ruck” in blue ink, numbered #588.

Sound

Very loud, clear and articulate, with a chiming rasgueado and a vintage bark. The action is low, and the saddle has room to go lower still – “Diego del Gastor low”. Kai Narezo plays one of his rondeñas on it in the video above.

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