Weekly Wednesday Q&A with Juha Ruokangas

"How high should the pickups be adjusted? Which guitar companies are your idols? Can a heavy weight guitar sound good? What's the weirdest tool you own?" These questions - and tons more - have poured in in the live chat, comments and private messages during the first 12 months of the Weekly Wednesday Live existence. Some questions I've answered live when they've been asked...

"Medium or Jumbo frets? Narrow or wide? Nickel silver or stainless steel? EVO gold - what the heck is that anyways..!?" Don't fret - you're not alone if you're confused about guitar frets, considering how many choices there are available these days. On this episode of my Weekly Wednesday Live Q&A I'll address what are the meaningful differences between different f...

"I bought a guitar.. but the neck profile is not comfortable. The pickups could be hotter, too! Should I get another guitar - or have this one modded? Is it worth the money?" Let's talk about guitar modifications! On this episode you'll find out whether it is worth modding your guitar or not? We'll discuss on the various aspects that are good to take into account next time...

Should I go for bolt-on? Set neck? Neck-through-body? The web is full of advice - but can I trust it? Do an internet search, and you'll find TONS of articles and videos comparing neck joints of guitars. The forums are saturated with opinions on the topic as well. So why to make yet another video about neck joints?? Well, a lot of the content available tends to repeat the same old myths: Bolt-...

As you know, I'm not typically doing these Weekly Wednesday Live about my own guitars. But.. since the broadcast IS about answering your questions and possible concerns, I thought it would be useful for you if I addressed a bunch of rather common negative associations linked to ordering a custom instrument.  Some of these points may seem valid about ordering basically any custom guitar, while...

FUGUE /fjuːɡ/ 1. In MUSIC - a contrapuntal composition in which a short melody or phrase (the subject) is introduced by one part and successively taken up by others and developed by interweaving the parts. 2. In PSYCIATRY - a state of loss of awareness of one's identity, often coupled with flight from one's usual environment, associated with certain forms of hysteria and epilepsy. On thi...

"Some things are better than others, that is, they have more quality. But when you try to say what the quality is, apart from the things that have it, it all goes poof!" - Robert M. Pirsig Let's discuss quality! What is it? How can you tell something has it? Or is 'quality' one of those words that have simply degraded to one more of those endless empty marketing terms..!?...

The Perfect Tone... Does it even exist? And if it does, why does it keep eluding me? On this episode of my Weekly Wednesday Live I'll talk about the 4 key elements that define your electric guitar sound, and explain some of the reasons why we the search of that holy grail of sounds often may appear endless! This broadcast is targeted to all of you who enjoy guitars and basses, be it players,...

Last week the title of my show was "How To Become The Guitarist I've Always Wanted To Be". In other words, we discussed about setting goals and how to reach those goals. But what if the world doesn't get it? What if my music is the most original ever - I feel my ideas could change the world - but nobody seems to listen!  Well, you're not alone with those questions. This We...

Easy, right? You become who you want to be by practising more! But... is it really that easy? Typically life steps on the way, and we don't always get to fulfill our fantasies or reach our goals. On this episode of my Weekly Wednesday Live I will teach you a method that has been very helpful for me and my company over the past years in getting us where we've wanted to go. This broadcast...

Be it cars, electronics, kitchen knives or guitars,  “Made in Japan” equals high quality. But… why? It wasn’t always that way. When it comes to industrial goods, "Made in Japan” used to be the “Made in China” back in the 1960's. The cheap option.  Let’s talk about what changed all that, and more importantly: What can we learn from the Japanese way! This broadcast is targeted to all of yo...

Class society - the way of the western world back in medieval times. The noblemen and clergy at the top, merchants and craftsmen next, followed by the common folk - the working class. And finally, the thieves, prostitutes and beggars at the bottom of the barrel. Oh - almost forgot... under all the rest, there they are, lurking in the dark: The performing artists - the musicians - the freelancers.....

My mind has been buzzing since our company 25th Anniversary online celebration. A lot of thoughts cruising on my mind's highways - so I thought that in this episode I would try to organize my brain a little! I've done a lot of reflecting on the past lately, and this has inevitably brought me to the troubling thought of: "What about tomorrow? What's next?". And I'm not...

During the past two week episodes I’ve reflected on my past from a couple of different perspectives. We began two weeks ago by jumping straight into the deep end. Crossroads that I feel have had a significant impact on how I have become who I am. Last week I took a bit lighter approach reflecting the past 25 years from another perspective, celebrating my love for guitars by talking about a few of...

Today, I will reflect another facet of my 25 years in guitar business - not as a guitar maker, but as a guitar enthusiast - a player - a fan - just like you!  My 7 favourite electric guitars made in Europe. That should be fun! I set some rules for myself to make this impossibly difficult task a bit easier - but you'll have to watch the show to find out what those rules are - and what those 7...

What a cryptic title for today’s talk, right? Many of you have noticed that we’re celebrating my company’s 25th anniversary, and, being in the middle of the preparations for our online Celebration event that I’m sure some of you have noticed already on Facebook, I was thinking - how could I share with you in a meaningful way - some reflections from my past - but not focusing to the moments of succ...

Today we’re going to talk about tools and accessories that I feel every guitarist should own! The idea for this video has been brewing for quite a while, and while I have definitely mentioned many of these items on earlier videos & podcasts, I felt it’s a good idea to dedicate one whole video to this topic that is often presented in a bit haphazard way, cutting corners in the attempt to sell y...

Yup, I love buying guitar gear... but it is so hard to make the right choices! Let's talk about this. I got inspired from the past 7 episodes where I interviewed cool people within the guitar biz, and in addition to that I had already interviewed Henning Pauly earlier on, as well as I did the  podcast about reasons why it's not always the smartest idea to order a custom guitar. On this v...

The 7th, conclusive interview in this epic series - Factory manufactured or luthier made - what's the real difference? I'm happy to welcome Michael Spalt to the broadcast. Yet another God of Fretted Instruments and my dear brother in arms - a cofounder and the President of the European Guitar Builders association. Michael and I have discussed a lot about this very topic over the years, a...

Factory manufactured - or luthier made? What's the real difference?  And whatever it is... does it really matter to the player? 5 interviews in this epic series behind - and you know what? I have interviewed small builders - some who have worked for a factory and as as an individual luthier - and I've even dragged in Fender, the biggest corporation of them all! But... I've realized...

Factory manufactured - or luthier made? What's the real difference?  And whatever it is... does it matter to the player? I have by now interviewed 4 experienced guitar makers for the 'factory vs luthier' series... but... something's missing, isn't it? It is indeed a bit suspicious to discuss the differences between factory and luthier made guitars without giving the big bo...

Factory manufactured - or luthier made? What's the real difference?  And whatever it is... does it matter to the player? On the 4th episode of this epic series I had the privilege to interview Tom Anderson - a living legend and a true pioneer of the scene that later became known as 'boutique guitars'.  The first guitar made by a small builder I ever held in my hands was made by Tom...

This week - the 3nd episode of my 'factory vs luthier' series - you'll get to meet the famous German luthier Nik Huber, whose career I have been paying close attention to for well over 20 years, and with whom I have exhibited at the same shows in Europe and North-America countless times. Heck, we've even built custom guitars for each other!  Regardless of all the fun times, thi...

Factory manufactured - or luthier made? What's the real difference?  Does it matter to the player? In the previous broadcast William "Grit" Laskin and I got the wheel turning - and this week I'll continue with another living legend to explore this fascinating topic. This week - the 2nd episode of my 'factory vs luthier' series - I'll dive in to deep end with John...

Factory manufactured - or luthier made? What's the real difference?  Does it matter to the player? Let's discuss about it! A huge and many-faceted topic, worthy of writing books about! Definitely not something that I could wrap up in one live youtube broadcast. Thus, I decided to interview various experienced professionals in the guitar business. I hope these conversations will shed ligh...