1995 founder juha ruokangas headquarters janakkala finland area served global key people juha ruokangas master luthier ceo jyrki kostamo master luthier tomi nivala luthier emma elftorp luthier lari l tti luthier jani rinta keturi luthier website http www.ruokangas.com ruokangas guitars builds solid body and semi hollow electric guitars including models such as duke vsop mojo hellcat and unicorn . the company builds guitars using traditional methods no modern computer controlled machinery or serial production methods are used . each guitar is built individually by a luthier . ruokangas guitars is a privately held corporation solely owned by master luthier juha ruokangas . contents 1 history 2 instruments 3 players 4 references 5 external links history edit 1995 juha ruokangas founds the company as a sole trader and rents a small workshop facility in finland hyvink at wanha villatehdas building and repairing guitars . 1996 juha starts using moose shin bone as nut material in all his guitars and repairwork . 1997 the website ruokangas.com is published and the first ruokangas guitar model the duke is launched . juha experiments with spanish cedar cedrela odorata as the body and neckwood a tonewood not commonly used in electric guitars . spanish cedar is to become one of the fundamental characteristics of ruokangas guitars . 1998 juha participates in a thermo treatment project a finnish invention funded by the european union . thermo treated tonewood becomes a common feature in ruokangas guitars . the method slowly becomes popular in other parts of the world too . in the north america thermo treated wood is often referred to with such trade names as roasted torrefied or caramelised wood . 1999 juha starts co operation with fellow craftsmen mika koskinen and jiri kaarmela who are to become part owners of the company two years later along with luthier jarkko lindholm who joins the team in 2000 but leaves a year later to work on his own lindholm musical instruments . juha designs and launches new variations of the duke theme and introduces another uncommon local material the arctic birch tops . 2000 juha designs and launches the second ruokangas model vsop built of thermo treated alder and rock maple and attends the frankfurt musikmesse for the first time . 2001 luthier jyrki kostamo joins the ruokangas team . the company format changes from sole trader to privately held corporation . the first dealerships are confirmed and ruokangas is reviewed in guitar magazines more regularly . ruokangas proprietary pickups manufactured by harry h ussel in germany are launched . 2003 ruokangas guitars publishes a new website design with online guitar configurator tool based on an idea by jarkko lindholm developed by graphics designer junnu vuorela where one can visually choose colors pickups woods and parts online . such configurators were rare at the time the japanese kisekae guitar creator being the first internationally known commercial version launched in 2000 but later on such tools have gained more popularity as the technology has become more readily available and network speed has increased . 2004 luthier tomi nivala joins the ruokangas team . junnu vuorela wins the mindtrek award for productive innovations with the ruokangas website design . ruokangas launches a new guitar model the mojo . ruokangas licences the buzz feiten tuning system . 2005 ruokangas guitars attends the namm show for the first time . master s degree becomes available for luthiers in finland . the domestic ruokangas website ruokangas.fi is published . ruokangas guitars celebrates 10th anniversary . 2006 luthier emma elftorp from sweden joins the ruokangas team . 2007 ruokangas guitars attends the fuzz guitar show in gothenburg sweden . co operation with true temperament company starts . 2008 the hellcat a new guitar model is introduced . ruokangas joins facebook . juha and emma launch the project unicorn new guitar design process open to public via youtube . 2009 the unicorn guitar model is introduced . also the first ruokangas bass model the steambass is introduced . juha receives his master luthier degree . ruokangas is invited to exhibit at montreal guitar show discontinued in 2013 the annual high end event for the finest guitars in the world . juha becomes one of the founding members and the first chairman of the board of the guild of finnish luthiers suomen soitinrakentajien kilta . 2010 the 4th employee luthier lari l tti joins the ruokangas team . the new ruokangas website developed by juha javanainen and junnu vuorela and iphone application developed by mk & c in cooperation with junnu vuorela is launched in january . the website gets an honorary award in the grand one 2010 competition the best information design category . ruokangas exhibits again at the montreal guitar show mgs and the show organization salon de guitare de montr al orders a ruokangas guitar to their ste cat collection . this is the first european guitar in the collection . 2011 the ruokangas workshop moves from hyvink to the historic manor of harviala in janakkala . exhibits and co organizes the first ever turenki tonefest . juha ruokangas is chosen by robert shaw as one of the most influential contemporary electric guitar makers in the world in his book electrified . jay jay french of twisted sister orders a duke for his famous pinkburst collection to benefit the research of uveitis . other brands involved in the pinkburst project were gibson fender epiphone gretsch prs martin marshall mesa boogie vox orange hartkedandiamond 2012 finnish design critic kaj kalin chooses ruokangas guitars as the winner of the first ever taito finlandia award . juha becomes one of the founding members and the first vice president of the european guitar builders egb association . 2013 introduces the unicorn artisan and mojo king models . is invited to exhibit at the healdsburg guitar festival santa rosa ca ; usa . 2014 juha works actively in egb to lift the public image of european guitar making to new heights by launching the holy grail guitar show . launches ruokangas rendezvous an event held in cologne targeted for ruokangas enthusiasts and guitar fans in general . ruokangas guitars exhibits at the first ever holy grail guitar show held in berlin . introduces the captain nemo guitar along with a pickup innovation called the valvebucker . the holy grail guitar show is widely regarded in guitar media as the new golden standard of guitar shows . 2015 luthier jani rinta keturi joins the ruokangas team . the company celebrates its 20th anniversary . launches the aeon and unicorn supersonic guitar models . development continues on the new valvebucker tube guitar pickup . the ruokangas team participates as actors in the spirit of the guitar hunt movie directed by mika tyysk also known as mr. fastfinger . ruokangas guitars exhibits at the second holy grail guitar show in berlin . instruments edit duke first introduced in 1997 a carved top double cutaway electric guitar with set neck construction . both solid body and semi acoustic versions exist . includes a number of unique design points . current model versions are sonic replaced the earlier sonic and twinsonic classic replaced the earlier classic standard and deluxe artisan replaced the earlier special and royale . duke classic duke artisan duke royale vsop first introduced in 2000 a solid body bolt on double cutaway electric guitar with tremolo bridge . the current model versions are classic replaced the standard plus special and king and deluxe replaced the supreme . vsop classic vsop deluxe mojo first introduced in 2004 a bolt on single cutaway electric guitar . both solid body and semi acoustic versions exist . current model versions are classic replaced the earlier classic and blues deluxe and grande replaced the earlier supreme and grande . mojo classic mojo deluxe mojo grande hellcat first introduced in 2008 a modern solid body double cutaway electric guitar with floyd rose type tremolo both bolt on and neck thru body designs exist . the model versions introduced classic deluxe and artist . hellcat classic hellcat deluxe hellcat artist unicorn first introduced in 2009 a modern take on a traditional solid body single cutaway electric with set neck and carved top . the model version introduced classic . the unicorn guitar design process and the making of the first two prototypes was documented as a youtube video diary by juha ruokangas and emma elftorp . unicorn classic players edit jay jay french twisted sister mick box uriah heep josh smith tommy emmanuel matias kupiainen stratovarius emppu vuorinen nightwish jukka tolonen juha torvinen eppu normaali mikko pantse syrj eppu normaali sami ruusukallio eppu normaali juha bj rninen peter lerche ben wigler arizona rainer nyg rd diablo sami saarinen status minor marko karhu peter engberg florian zepf candycream joel auge hewit sascha wiegand bitune christian wosimski bitune aaron kaplan henri arola dyecrest pirkka ohlis dyecrest matti pasanen dyecrest kai sepp l jetsetters edmund piskaty jani wickholm saku mattila rick simcox the tonequesters mr. manetti . references edit published sources electrified by robert shaw . isbn 1 4027 4774 8 guitars a celebration of pure mojo by david schiller . isbn 978 0 7611 3800 6 mindtrek 1997 2006 bittivirtaa kuohuntaa ja arkip iv by tommi pelkonen & ulla vehmasaho . isbn 952 92 1155 4 suomi kitarat by juha vartiainen . isbn 978 952 220 012 9 suomalainen kitara 2000 luvulla by jarno vesa . isbn 978 951 98245 9 8 external links edit ruokangas guitars official website ruokangas guitars official website in finnish ruokangas guitars in facebook ruokangas guitars in youtube ruokangas guitars in twitter retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title ruokangas guitars & oldid 732928056 categories guitar manufacturing companiescompanies established in 1995manufacturing companies of finlandfinnish brands navigation menu personal tools not 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