2014 Robert Ruck No. 1056 SP/IN

This 2014 Robert Ruck is a spruce and Indian rosewood classical guitar, No. 1056 – built after Ruck had passed the milestone of a thousand instruments.

Past One Thousand Guitars

By this time Ruck used a new label, “Robert Ruck” in printed capitals above his emblem; it is dated 2014, signed and numbered #1056.

Sound and Condition

Firm and solid, with surprising volume and a comfortable neck, the guitar was in practically mint condition – it appears to have been played very little, or very carefully.

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