2016 German Vázquez Rubio "1951 Barbero, ex Sabicas" No. 31716 SP/CY

This 2016 German Vázquez Rubio “1951 Barbero, ex Sabicas” No. 31716 is a flamenco guitar with a spruce top and cypress back and sides, made in Los Angeles, California – another of his copies of the Marcelo Barbero that Sabicas played.

After the Barbero of Sabicas

Sabicas famously played a 1951 guitar by Marcelo Barbero, and used it to record his album “Flamenco Puro”. German’s copy here is surprisingly light – as light as a feather, like the original – and extremely responsive to the touch, with a big, open sound. It has enormous volume and plenty of character and nuance.

Woods, Playability and Label

Very high-quality woods were used throughout, with a perfectly quarter-sawn spruce top and elegant cypress back and sides. Very few makers finish a guitar in shellac with the care and perfection German brings to it. The trebles are very clear and easy to work with and the basses steady and full, and the very low flamenco action makes it a dream to play; the string length is 650mm and the nut a slim 50mm. On the label: German’s signature, the year 2016 and the number 31716, with “Copia: Marcelo Barbero 1951, Ex. Sabicas” written beside it.

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.