2012 German Vázquez Rubio "Torres" No. 12812 SP/MP

This 2012 German Vázquez Rubio “Torres” No. 12812 is a classical guitar with a spruce top and maple back and sides, made in Los Angeles, California – a deluxe, highly ornamented tribute to Antonio de Torres.

A Deluxe Tribute to Torres

This is a very deluxe, highly ornamented tribute to Antonio de Torres. The central mosaic of the rosette is one of German’s own designs, but he uses it as Torres would have, for the head inlay as well. Checkerboard purflings run through the head veneer, top, back and rosette and into the wings of the bridge, where they frame dumbbell-shaped bone inlays – again a tribute to Torres – and German inlaid his signature mother-of-pearl logo in the heel cap. The materials are from his most select woods: an aged, bearclaw-rich spruce soundboard and flamed maple with a deep, three-dimensional figure for the back and sides.

A Cedar Plate Inside the Back

German has inlaid a piece of cedar on the inside of the back (similar to the Manuel Contreras "double top" design), which reinforces the box – improving volume and projection – and adds warmth and thickness to the sound. The trebles are full yet clear and the basses deep and rich.

Condition and Label

Although used, it was recently revisited by German, who touched it up to almost like-new condition and fitted a brand-new set of Schaller GrandTune frictionless machines. Only one small ding behind the bridge betrays any previous use. No. 12812 is written on the label, which is dated 2012 and signed by German.

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.