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Ruokangas Guitars

The Official Ruokangas Guitars MySpace site

About Me

!-Remove Maroon Menu Bar Band Page !- Author: Eileen

History
Ruokangas Guitars was founded in 1995 by luthier Juha Ruokangas. The story goes from repairing guitars in the late '80s to studying guitar building under guidance of the finest Finnish luthiers in the early '90s - then launching the company and building guitars in his 35 square meter workshop since 1995. The workshop has expanded step by step to its current form, 250 square facility with handful of skilled luthiers crafting about 100 unique guitars a year.

Different guitars
What makes Ruokangas guitar different from the rest? First of all, Ruokangas uses materials not traditionally seen in electric guitars. Spanish Cedar, Arctic Birch and Moose Shin Bone have become synonymous to the Ruokangas name in the world of boutique guitars over the last decade. Secondly, Ruokangas uses ThermoTreatment - a revolutionary patented technology to replicate the effects of aging in the cellular structure of tonewood. Find out more of what we're about from our official website.

A few words from Juha
"Our work is a testimony for the old world values. We have consciously decided not to be part of the ongoing industrial race for cheaper labour and bigger profits. Our simple task is to make our living by building guitars, and to cherish the tradition of handcraft - even if it wouldn't always be the most efficient and profitable way." - Juha Ruokangas


My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 6/13/2007
Band Website: ruokangas.com
Band Members:

Juha Ruokangas is the guy to blame of starting all this - designing, building and bringing these guitars on the market. He conducts our little circus, and takes part in crafting guitars whenever and as much as possible. Juha claims openly that Ruokangas Guitars builds the best electric guitars in the world. What arrogance...

Jyrki Kostamo
has worked as a professional luthier at Ruokangas shop since 2001. He focuses mainly on the Vsop and Mojo models as well as the new lines Bomber and Hellcat. Jyrki lets steam out by playing guitar in local metal bands. This dude has an (almost) endless patience.

Tomi
"El Magico"
Nivala joined the Ruokangas team in 2004. He's a professional luthier, and focuses mainly on building Duke models and exotic one-offs. Tomi plays actively in two bands, Heartburn and Re-Pulse . Tomi is the official nutcase of our team.

Emma Elftorp a professional luthier from the west coast of Sweden. She joined the Ruokangas team in 2006. Emma is the one who takes care of this MySpace page amongst her other duties. She also looks after the rest of the team from getting into trouble...

We have two additional team members; Mika Koskinen and Jiri Kaarmela, operating in another town, responsible for the invaluable tonewood supply and rough cut of our Vsop and Mojo series bodies and necks. Here pictured Mika - Mr. Arctic Birch himself.



Friends of Ruokangas Guitars



Juha and Tommy Emmanuel with his Mojo Grande



Taylor Hicks and Josh Smith with his Duke TwinSonic



Rainer Nygård of Diablo with his Ruokangas Custom P69/8SL



Mick Box of Uriah Heep with his Duke Custom



JayJay French of Twisted Sister with his Mojo Grande
and Juha Ruokangas



Jukka Tolonen with his Duke JT Custom



Juha Torvinen of Eppu Normaali with his Mojo Classic



Pantse Syrjä of Eppu Normaali with his Vsop King

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My Blog

Ruokangas YouTube Video Diary Part 2 - And Rolling...!

Do NOT miss this!Join the exciting Ruokangas documentary project now launched in YouTube. Juha will walk you through step by step the WHOLE design process of a new guitar model. What model..? Well tha...
Posted by Ruokangas Guitars on Thu, 03 Jul 2008 02:19:00 PST

Amberian Dawn Hellcat Custom ready to kick some serious ass!!!

Ruokangas Hellcat Custom for Tuomas Seppälä / Amberian DawnWe're very excited of starting the building process of this Hellcat Custom for Tuomas! The starting point for the design is our Hellcat Artis...
Posted by Ruokangas Guitars on Tue, 06 May 2008 12:18:00 PST

FUZZ Guitar Show - Pics!

Back in Finland after a successful show in Göteborg, Sweden.Above: Our booth filled with beautiful guitars! Below: Some more eyecandy!Mr Björn Juhl, who would do (and did) anything to amuse everyone a...
Posted by Ruokangas Guitars on Fri, 18 Apr 2008 05:27:00 PST

Hot News!

The Ruokangas Hellcat Series sets a new standard for modern soloist style electric guitar. Whether you choose the Standard (alder body, bolt-on rock maple neck) or upgrade to the Artist (spanish cedar...
Posted by Ruokangas Guitars on Mon, 21 Apr 2008 05:50:00 PST

Frankfurt Musikmesse 2008 - Pics!

Back on duty in Finland after a successful show at Frankfurt MusikMesse 2008.In this first videoclip Juha goes through the guitars at the booth. Here you can see and hear Mr Mats Johanson at ...
Posted by Ruokangas Guitars on Mon, 17 Mar 2008 07:24:00 PST

Where is the world going?

Hey everyone! Here’s a little something for you guys to think about.. I wrote the following column originally on our website, and thought to bring it up here again since the subject seems more a...
Posted by Ruokangas Guitars on Tue, 19 Feb 2008 04:56:00 PST

Finnish Metal Expo 2008 - Pics!

Ruokangas Guitars attended, for the first time, the Finnish Metal Expo (FME) 2008. The event was held at the Cable Factory in Helsinki 15-16 February. We brought a couple of new cool models as well!He...
Posted by Ruokangas Guitars on Tue, 19 Feb 2008 02:25:00 PST