2016 German Vázquez Rubio "Concert 635" No. 52516 SP/MP

This 2016 German Vázquez Rubio “Concert 635” No. 52516 is a classical guitar with a spruce top and maple back and sides, made in Los Angeles, California – a beautifully detailed 635mm concert guitar.

About the “Concert 635”

The “Concert 635” is a beautiful concert guitar with several unique and striking design elements. The shorter 635mm scale is easy on the hands, and the guitar keeps a full concert sound.

Design and Materials

Its quarter-sawn spruce top and flamed maple back and sides are framed by padauk in the binding, back center strip and tie block, with its deep-reddish hue. The headstock is meticulously layered from four pieces of maple and three of padauk under a rosewood front veneer, and it “opens” elegantly into the neck when seen from behind. Half-herringbone purfling lines the perimeter of the top and both edges of the rosette, where a subtle touch of blue, barely noticeable, adds to the guitar’s unique look. German applies the shellac finish with a care and perfection found in very few makers.

Sound and Label

Its trebles are clear and full, and its basses deep, with a lovely bouncy response. With a very low action and a 635mm string length, it is a dream to play. A 20th fret gives the high C natural. All in all, a beautiful-sounding concert guitar, intricately made. No. 52516 is written on the label, which is dated 2016 and signed by German; “635” is written beside the number.

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.