1967 "Jose" David Rubio SP/CSAR

A 1967 classical guitar by David Rubio, with a spruce top and dramatically figured CSA rosewood back and sides, built in New York under the name "Jose" Rubio just before he returned to England.

The Last New York Year

This guitar was made during Rubio's Bream period, in his final year in New York. The materials are exquisite, most notably the dramatic grain of the rosewood back and sides. The sound is very bold, even and balanced up and down the neck, with the beauty and lyricism for which he is best known.

Condition

The center seam of the top had opened at some point and was re-glued from the outside (there are no internal repairs), with some finish work to the top done, we believe, at the same time. Both historic and very enjoyable to play.

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.