2016 German Vázquez Rubio "Concert 635" No. 81616 SP/MP

This 2016 German Vázquez Rubio “Concert 635” No. 81616 is a classical guitar with a spruce top and maple back and sides, made in Los Angeles, California, with padauk binding and a layered headstock.

A Shorter-Scale Concert Guitar

German gives the model several unique, striking design elements, and the result is a beautiful concert instrument. Built to a 635mm string length, it is easy to play and still a true concert guitar.

Inlays, Woods and Finish

German frames the perfectly quarter-sawn spruce and flamed maple with padauk – in the binding, the back center strip and the tie block. Four pieces of maple and three of padauk, with a rosewood front veneer, make up the meticulously layered headstock, which “opens” into the neck when seen from behind, and half-herringbone purfling follows the top’s perimeter and the inner and outer rings of the rosette. There is even a subtle use of blue in the rosette, barely noticeable with the naked eye. Its French polish shows the attention to detail and perfection that very few makers achieve.

Sound and Label

Clear, full trebles sit over deep basses with a nice, bouncy response. The shorter 635mm scale and a very low action make it a dream to play. There is also a 20th fret, for repertoire that needs a high C natural. A beautiful-sounding, intricately made concert guitar. German’s label – “Constructor, Desde 1968” – is signed, dated 2016 and numbered 81616, with “635” 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.