GET YOUR MOJO WORKING

Mojo - all the twang you need

One might think it’s a simple job to design a simple guitar – but it’s quite the opposite. How to bring anything worthwhile into a concept that is already stellar? It’s all the little things. By cleaning up and revising every detail, one can do miracles. I got my mojo working good.

Juha Ruokangas signature

Juha Ruokangas – Master Guitar Maker

Mojo Shapes

MOJO CLASSIC

Mojo Classic

First I dodged the idea of touching this style that has so often been modified but rarely improved upon. I’m glad I finally went for it, and I learned a lot on the way, too. In Leonardo da Vinci’s words – simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

MOJO KING

Mojo King

As I turned 40, I couldn’t afford a race car. I ended up designing this guitar instead – the embodiment of my mid-life crisis! The Mojo King is great fun – it has tons of tonal options, and I love the hot rodded looks of it, too.

MOJO GRANDE

Mojo Grande
When Tommy Emmanuel bought a Mojo Grande from me, he said it was “the most acoustic electric guitar” he had ever played. That’s a great definition for the Grande! It’s as if there’s nothing standing between your fingers and making music.

MAKING THE MOJO

Tone is usually my first source of inspiration when making a new guitar model. On the Mojo model, Wilko Johnson was definitely one of my key influences. Listen to the early Dr. Feelgood tunes ‘I Don’t Mind’ or ‘Keep It Out Of Sight’. Mind blowing sounds and attitude!

Watch the Ruokangas YouTube channel Mojo Playlist – a collection of videos we’ve either filmed by ourselves or found online and wanted to share with you.

LET US PICK THE WOOD
YOU CAN FOCUS TO PLAY

OPEN VOICED

Finnish alder has a warm, yellowish to brownish natural color, and when skillfully finished, the grain has a beautiful shimmer. Alder gives our bolt-on guitars a classic, open voiced and ringing tone that most players would define as “vintage”.

STRONG WOOD

Rock maple is a stable and strong wood that is ideally suitable to be used for bolt-on guitar necks. It just works so well in every regard. We offer maple also for fretboards, adding brilliance and clarity to the overall tone.

THERMALLY AGED

Thermally aged tonewood behaves the same way as naturally seasoned wood does. When done the right way, thermal ageing has only positive effects. I’ve used thermally aged tonewood in my guitars since before turn of the millennium, and later on it has become popular all around the world among luthiers and guitar factories.

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Exceptionally resonant
The Mojo Classic is so exceptionally resonant unplugged – it’s like playing an acoustic guitar!

Jeff Van Blarcom (USA)
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Diamond
The Mojo Grande is the diamond among my many guitars.

Arnulf Moastuen (Norway)
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Simple yet refined
The Mojo Grande is a masterpiece to be explored – at the same time simple yet refined.

Ole Krogh (Spain)
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For grown-ups
Ruokangas guitars are instruments for grown-ups!

Thorsten Hoffmann (Germany)
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Sensuously smooth
I’ll probably always remember the sensuously smooth finish and expertly rolled edges of the Mojo King’s neck.

Premier Guitar (USA)
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Perfection
My new Mojo King is definitely the most beautiful and perfect of all objects I’ve ever owned!

Jari Holma (Finland)
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Friendly frets
Absolutely gorgeous, love it. Beautiful! I like how the frets feel too. They’re very friendly frets.

Tommy Emmanuel c.g.p. (USA)
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Jazz and soul
The Mojo Classic is one of the most versatile tools to get the sound needed in jazz and soul. I love it!

Flo Zepf (Germany)
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Sounds incredible
This Mojo is the very best guitar I’ve ever played. It looks, feels and sounds incredible!

Kalle Thiel (Germany)
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Three-dimensional
When the Mojo King is running clean (or semi-clean) it conjures lush, airy, three-dimensional tones.

Premier Guitar (USA)

FROM START TO FINISH
ONE LUTHIER, ONE GUITAR

TWANG

Why do some guitars have “more twang” than others? This characteristic tone quality that many desire is a sum of many variables – wood species, construction, pickups, bridge, string gauge – and eventually it boils down to how each player digs the notes out of the instrument.

RESPONSIBILITY

We make one guitar at a time. Each guitar is made by one luthier. This means that every guitar part we make gets uninterrupted attention to detail, and it enables us to take your custom wishes into account better. And besides – it’s way more fun to make guitars this way!

JOB DONE RIGHT

People often ask me if a set-neck is better than a bolt-on neck. It’s not really about better or worse. Different joint styles serve different purposes. And regarding quality – one can make a great set neck – or a poor one. We prefer doing our job so that we can sleep well at night.

TRUSS ROD

Electric guitars made in the 1950’s had a very simple truss rod that was able to correct an up-bowed neck. Such truss rods are still used a lot. To me this is a no-brainer – sometimes the old way just isn’t the best way. All my guitars have a high quality double-way truss rod that doesn’t cause trouble in any climate.

BUILT FOR LIFE

Our purpose is to create the ideal tools for your art of making music. To achieve this goal, each of our guitars is individually handmade to the highest standard by one of us, the Ruokangas team, using the finest materials in the world. No serial production methods or automated processes are involved in the making.

Ruokangas 20 Year Warranty

OUR JOB IS TO
REMOVE ALL OBSTACLES
BETWEEN YOU AND YOUR MUSIC

VALVEBUCKER

Most of the times, new developments in electric guitars and guitar gear aim at reproducing those beloved vintage tones we all love. Our new invention, the Valvebucker, is different. A game changer. It uses old school technology, but produces a genuinely new electric guitar sound.

REAL STEEL

Not many come to think that one of the key reasons for the twangy sound of this style guitar is the traditional bridge baseplate made of steel. It is a magnetic material that changes the shape of the magnetic field of the pickup, emphasizing the characteristic edgy sound of this type guitars.

SMOOTH AS BUTTER

We’ve decided not to count the hours or the minutes, but instead just keep on doing the very best we can. Skillfully installed and finished frets make a worlds difference to how the guitar feels to play. Expert levelling enables super low and buzz free action – and mirror buffed frets make bending notes smooth as butter.

GUITAR YOU CHOOSE TO PLAY

A musician recognizes an exceptional instrument when he plays one. Our mission is to make sure that every Ruokangas guitar that leaves our shop is such an instrument.

THE GUITARS I USE

I own many guitars – some good, some even great. Then I have the ones I use. They’re all Ruokangas guitars.
– Juha Torvinen  Eppu Normaali Homepage

FOCAL POINT

Juha Ruokangas - electric guitar was an inseparable part of the pop culture revolution

Electric guitar was an inseparable part of the pop culture revolution in the 1950’s. But it’s still a young musical instrument, that keeps on evolving in the hands of guitar makers around the world. I’m proud and thankful to exist in the focal point of this invigorating age, when guitars are made better than ever before.
– Juha Ruokangas