About 13 years ago, I traveled down to Eugene to learn from Robert Ruck; this was a meaningful and important part of my development as a guitar maker. In 2016, right about when I was moving to Austria, we started corresponding about the possibility of inheriting his guitar making “paraphernalia”, as he put it, and helping to carry on his legacy. Recently, I travelled to Sturgeon Bay to meet with Cheri Ruck and sorted through his things and packed them up to move.
I will be dedicating the next years to making a tribute Ruck model, finishing the last instruments that he started, documenting as much of his methods and tools as possible, as well as studying and making plans of a handful of his important instruments, so that other guitar makers can benefit from some of his ideas and years of work. This is going to be a slow process. I will be reaching out to people I already know, but if you have known Robert and would like to contribute stories, anecdotes, photos or whatever, please feel free to contact me (preferably by email and not social media). I have a lot to catch up on, so I may be slow to respond!
