1967 "Jose" David Rubio "Blanca" w/pegs SP/CY

A 1967 flamenco blanca with pegs by David Rubio, with a spruce top and cypress back and sides – built in his last year in New York, and one of the very few flamenco guitars he made.

In the video above, Miguel Ángel Carrillo plays his arrangement of a traditional Soleá on this guitar.

A Flamenco Guitar by a Flamenco Player

Rubio began his musical life immersed in flamenco – he accompanied singers and dancers, and it was a Spanish flamenco company that took him to New York. Yet, although a flamenco player himself, he built very few flamenco guitars, which makes this one a very rare find. We can absolutely attest that it is as "flamenco" as it gets.

Sound, Playability and Condition

Built in his last year in New York, still with "Jose" Rubio on the label, it has an ultra-lightweight build (unlike his heavier classicals), lightning-fast response and a raspy flamenco sound. Playability is a breeze with low flamenco action. Condition for its age is amazing – no cracks or repairs, with the original pegs and finish.

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.