2009 German Vázquez Rubio "Negra" No. 11609 SP/IN

This 2009 German Vázquez Rubio “Negra” No. 11609 is a flamenco guitar with a spruce top and Indian rosewood back and sides, made in Los Angeles, California – a concert flamenco negra in excellent condition.

A Concert Flamenco Negra

This is a flamenco negra – a spruce top with Indian rosewood back and sides – built for the concert stage. A perfectly quarter-sawn spruce top and gorgeous Indian rosewood back and sides – very high-quality materials, and a pleasure to look at. Very few makers finish a guitar in shellac with the care and perfection German brings to it.

Sound, Playability and Condition

It responds immediately and sounds open, with lots of volume and character – clear, easy trebles and full, steady basses. The action is very low, flamenco style, and it plays like a dream. The condition is excellent, with no damage, repairs or significant wear of any kind. German’s label – “Constructor, Desde 1968” – is signed, dated 2009 and numbered 11609.

German Vázquez Rubio: Early Years in Paracho, Mexico

German Vázquez Rubio (also known as G.V. Rubio) has been making guitars since 1968 – over fifty years – and has developed his own signature sound that guitarists have come to love. He was born in 1952 in Paracho, Mexico, where there is an abundance of fine luthiers (with few exceptions, all of the finest guitars in Mexico come from Paracho). German’s first formal training began at eleven years old, when he left school to help support his seven siblings and went to work in the workshop of his uncle, Manuel Rubio. There, even at his young age, he made a conscious effort to make guitar building his life’s work.

“Desde 1968”

In 1968, at the age of sixteen, he made his first concert-level guitar (hence his label reads “Desde 1968”). German has since been able to learn from many different master builders such as Félix Manzanero, José Romanillos and Thomas Humphrey. He now resides in Los Angeles, California, where he builds a variety of both classical and flamenco models. He is also the maker of the real-life guitar from the Disney/Pixar film Coco – you can read more in our article on German Vázquez Rubio and the real Coco guitar.

First Prize in Mexico

In 2000, German won First Place at the Concurso Nacional de Constructores y Ejecutantes de Guitarras, Mexico’s national guitar-making competition.