1966 "Jose" David Rubio SP/CSAR

A 1966 classical guitar by David Rubio, with a spruce top and CSA rosewood back and sides, built in New York as "Jose" Rubio – from the Russell Cleveland collection.

In the videos above, Jennifer Kim plays all five of William Walton's Bagatelles – written for Julian Bream – on this guitar, and Milena Petkovic and Branko Barnic play "Balkan Express" on it and another 1966 Rubio.

A Rubio from Julian Bream's Era

Rubio built this guitar while he was still in New York, in the years Bream was playing his 1965 and 1966 guitars. Its sound is very bold, with the power of any Fleta or Rodríguez of the period, even and balanced in all registers and full of the beauty and lyricism Rubio is known for.

Condition and Playability

There is one well-repaired split along the center seam of the top, with some finish touch-up in that area. The tuners have been replaced with a set of Sloanes; otherwise the guitar is original. It plays beautifully and easily despite its larger neck and long scale, thanks to the elegant, smooth neck shape.

From the Russell Cleveland Collection

This guitar comes from the Russell Cleveland collection and is featured on pages 52–54 of the book The Classical Guitar – A Complete History.

David Rubio: From Flamenco Guitarist to Master Instrument Maker

David Rubio (1934–2000) is arguably the most important guitar maker to emerge from England, and the founding father of the English school. Born David Spink and raised in London, he studied medicine at Trinity College Dublin, then left for Spain, where he earned his living as a flamenco guitarist accompanying singers and dancers – and picked up the nickname "Rubio" for his red beard. A touring flamenco company brought him to New York, where, from what he had seen in the guitar shops of Spain, he taught himself to build guitars under the name "Jose" Rubio. Within a few years Julian Bream was playing his instruments.

Guitars, Lutes, Harpsichords and Violins

Rubio returned to England in 1967 and, from workshops near Oxford and, from 1979, in Cambridge, built a remarkably wide range of instruments: guitars and lutes, harpsichords, baroque and modern violins, violas and cellos. In the late 1960s and 1970s he trained three young makers in his methods – Kazuo Sato, Edward B. Jones and Paul Fischer – who built guitars of his design marked with their initials. Late in his life he developed a radical 8-string guitar, the "Brahms" model, with Paul Galbraith. He died in Cambridge on October 21, 2000, leaving more than a thousand instruments.