A day with Robert Ruck

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Patrick

Posts: 1189
Joined: Jul. 7 2003
From: Portland, Oregon

A day with Robert Ruck

As many of you are aware Robert Ruck is considered one of the elite classical guitar builders in the world, with many of the top classical artist playing his guitars. Robert now has close to a ten-year backlog and is no longer taking orders.

For several years, one of the local Universities has hosted a "hand built instrument show". I haven’t attended in the past as most are classical and violin builders which is not of great interest to me. On the program I noticed that Robert was going to be in attendance and thought it might be enjoyable to meet him. I had read that he played some flamenco and had just recently moved from Hawaii to Eugene Oregon, a couple of hours from Portland.

When I arrived at the show, as the keynote builder of the event, they had him located by the entrance. After a brief introduction I was pleased to see he had brought his own personal blanca and a negra and invited me to play them. We must have chatted for close to an hour before I said my farewells and reviewed the balance of the show. As I was leaving I stopped off at his booth to say goodbye. Somehow it came up in conversation that if I wasn’t playing guitar, I was bass fishing. I could see his eyes perk up a bit.

A couple of days later I emailed him and we chatted fishing a bit and I offered to take him on a guided trip if he liked. Long story short, last Wednesday afternoon, he drove up to my house and we had a great time playing flamenco until about midnight. He brought along a couple of his guitars that we passed back and forth. He was also able to play my Green blanca and De Voe negra.

Five in the morning came too early, as I wanted to be on the water at daybreak. We fished most of Thursday and had a great time telling fish stories. Although we didn’t do as well as I had hoped on big fish, we still had a total of about fifty smallmouth bass and as the picture shows a few nice ones.

Robert is known as the guy that came up with the use of ports (holes) in his guitars. He places a small hole on each side of the heal of the guitar, which apparently allows the guitar to breath and project better. He had an interesting story about how he came up with the idea. The very first guitar he built was a flamenco blanca. In the process of cutting the channels for the bindings he wound up with small holes all around the top and back (which is common). These small holes get covered up with the bindings. Being his first guitar, he was excited to find out what it sounded like so he strung it up with no bindings installed. He said it sounded great, but after installing the bindings it lost a lot. His conclusion was the holes were allowing the guitar to breath better. He then went on the experiment with placing holes of various sizes and location. By the way, his flamenco’s did not have the ports. He said most flamenco players have a hard time breaking tradition even though it may be better.

Here is a picture of Bob holding a couple of nice bass from our trip.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 23 2006 20:22:08

TANúñez

Posts: 2559
Joined: Jul. 10 2003
From: TEXAS

RE: A day with Robert Ruck (in reply to Patrick)

quote:

Although we didn’t do as well as I had hoped on big fish, we still had a total of about fifty smallmouth bass and as the picture shows a few nice ones.

Uh...am I missing something here. Those fish look pretty damn big! I'd love to see the size of the "big fish".

A day on the water just chillin' and fishin', man I envy you. Now I'm really going to start pressing my wife about moving up there.

Thanks for that story. Now you got me curious and I may have to string up one of my guitars BEFORE I install the binding and have a listen.

Now, let's get to the nitty gritty, how were the Ruck flamenco's?

_____________________________

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www.instagram.com/tanunezguitars

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 23 2006 20:37:30

Ron.M

Posts: 7051
Joined: Jul. 7 2003
From: Scotland

RE: A day with Robert Ruck (in reply to Patrick)

Those are big fish there Pat!...
Great story too..
So is this all you do now?
Stay up till 5 in the morning and go fishin'?

I'm jealous!!

cheers

Ron

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 23 2006 20:45:23

Francisco

Posts: 879
Joined: Jun. 13 2005
From: SW USA

RE: A day with Robert Ruck (in reply to Patrick)

awesome!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 23 2006 21:03:58

Ricardo

Posts: 14862
Joined: Dec. 14 2004
From: Washington DC

RE: A day with Robert Ruck (in reply to Patrick)

I met Robert in Spain at Gerardo's class. He is a great guy and makes some excellent guitars, and is a fine player too! He had a negra that he gave to Gerardo Nunez that I really loved. It had the sound ports, but came with little black plugs. I experimented and personally found the open ports to be a bit "nasal" sounding. Plugging them up seemed to give a tighter more percussive sound. Maybe that nasal sound is better for classical. I also played his blanca. Gerardo really liked that blanca and traded the negra back with Robert for it. He played a concert with it that I will never forget. I think the negra I liked got sold to a friend from Spain. Amazing instrument. Did he say if he was going back to Spain this summer?

Ricardo

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 23 2006 21:08:32

Miguel de Maria

Posts: 3532
Joined: Oct. 20 2003
From: Phoenix, AZ

RE: A day with Robert Ruck (in reply to Patrick)

Thanks for sharing, Pat. If you remember any other interesting details, do let us know!

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 23 2006 21:50:26

Patrick

Posts: 1189
Joined: Jul. 7 2003
From: Portland, Oregon

RE: A day with Robert Ruck (in reply to Patrick)

Ricardo,

Yes he said he met you at the Nunez class. It is indeed a small world. He told me about the story of the negra he presented to Gerardo with the ports. He said that the fellow that did the cante for the classes said "it was a great guitar, if it just didn't have those darn holes in it"! He also told me he had traded him a blanca for the negra.

He said he didn't plan to attend the class this year with other commitments and all.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 23 2006 21:56:11

Patrick

Posts: 1189
Joined: Jul. 7 2003
From: Portland, Oregon

RE: A day with Robert Ruck (in reply to Patrick)

quote:

Uh...am I missing something here. Those fish look pretty damn big! I'd love to see the size of the "big fish".

Tom,

How much more convincing do you need to get your butt to Oregon?

By the way, those fish we caught are practically in my back yard (literally).

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 23 2006 21:58:14

Patrick

Posts: 1189
Joined: Jul. 7 2003
From: Portland, Oregon

RE: A day with Robert Ruck (in reply to Patrick)

quote:

So is this all you do now? Stay up till 5 in the morning and go fishin'?

Actually I am up by four or five about three days a week to go fishing. My wife just shakes her head. She can't believe anyone would have a hobby that you have to get up at four in the morning for, but it just doesn't get any better.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 23 2006 22:01:52

Patrick

Posts: 1189
Joined: Jul. 7 2003
From: Portland, Oregon

RE: A day with Robert Ruck (in reply to Patrick)

quote:

Thanks for sharing, Pat. If you remember any other interesting details, do let us know!

Mike,

Bob had so many stories, I can't keep them straight.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 23 2006 22:07:44

Guest

RE: A day with Robert Ruck (in reply to Patrick)

So now this is going to be a smelly fishing forum???

Back to the chairs and practice dudes.

I used to be a keen perch and pike fisher some many years ago and one of my dreams was to go bass fishing in the North of the US, so maybe I´ll be there one day.

What do you use as a bait. Those little plastic worms that I dont know the name of in english. I like fly fishing and I can imagine that these basses could be quite fun on a class 6, 9 footer. They look strong and stubborn.

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 24 2006 6:44:54

Kate

Posts: 1827
Joined: Jul. 8 2003
From: Living in Granada, Andalucía

RE: A day with Robert Ruck (in reply to Patrick)

Hey Patrick,

Everyone has said this already but if that's a small mouth Bass I cant imagine what the big mouth looks like. Great story. Muy flamenco, a juerga till the wee hours then off hunting. I still got my ticket to Portland and am looking forward to using it when the timing is right. By the way, why is 4 am a good time for fishing ? Do they know its breakfast time ?

un saludo de Granada,
Kate

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REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 24 2006 8:39:13

bahen

Posts: 378
Joined: Mar. 4 2006

RE: A day with Robert Ruck (in reply to Guest)

quote:

What do you use as a bait. Those little plastic worms that I dont know the name of in english. I like fly fishing and I can imagine that these basses could be quite fun on a class 6, 9 footer. They look strong and stubborn.

No fish talk, you insolent man.

I gave up trout fishing last summer - I never caught anything. Now I go to the supermarket and ask for the live ones in the tank.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 24 2006 15:56:20

Patrick

Posts: 1189
Joined: Jul. 7 2003
From: Portland, Oregon

RE: A day with Robert Ruck (in reply to Patrick)

quote:

So now this is going to be a smelly fishing forum???

Back to the chairs and practice dudes.

I used to be a keen perch and pike fisher some many years ago and one of my dreams was to go bass fishing in the North of the US, so maybe I´ll be there one day.

What do you use as a bait. Those little plastic worms that I dont know the name of in english. I like fly fishing and I can imagine that these basses could be quite fun on a class 6, 9 footer. They look strong and stubborn.

Anders,

Sounds great to me! A "fishing-guitar" forum. It doesn’t get much better than that.

The welcome mat is always out. If you get this way, let me know.

Yes, that's exactly what we call them..."plastic worms". We use a generic term for any bait made form plastic as just that "plastics". We also use a lot of plugs, which we refer to as "crank baits". A lot of people bass fish with a fly rod and is the ultimate challenge. A 6 or 7 weight is about perfect.

Now…back to flamenco.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 24 2006 17:24:52

Patrick

Posts: 1189
Joined: Jul. 7 2003
From: Portland, Oregon

RE: A day with Robert Ruck (in reply to Patrick)

quote:

Everyone has said this already but if that's a small mouth Bass I cant imagine what the big mouth looks like. Great story. Muy flamenco, a juerga till the wee hours then off hunting. I still got my ticket to Portland and am looking forward to using it when the timing is right. By the way, why is 4 am a good time for fishing ? Do they know its breakfast time ?

Kate...

Large mouth bass have different coloration and grow to about twice the size of a small mouth. In the summer (hot months), they tend to feed very heavy just before the sun comes up. A lot of times, my fishing buddy and I have been off the water, had breakfast and home before the wife and kids are out of bed.

Keep me posted on the Portland trip.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date May 24 2006 17:30:58