2016 German Vázquez Rubio "Monarca Elite" No. 82716 CD/CSAR

This 2016 German Vázquez Rubio “Monarca Elite” No. 82716 is a classical guitar with a cedar top and CSA rosewood back and sides, made in Los Angeles, California – his double-top model, with CSA rosewood from his reserve stock.

The “Monarca Elite”: A Double Top

Along with the “Custom Elite”, this is the top-of-the-line model from German Vázquez Rubio – his “double-top” design. The soundboard has a Nomex interior sandwiched between a spruce layer on the inside and a cedar layer on the outside, braced with a traditional, symmetrical five-fan system. German’s goal was to offer a new design, but with a big, traditional sound.

Materials and Sound

Like the “Custom Elite”, it is built with only his finest, most precious materials and shows off his most delicate, refined craftsmanship in the carving, inlay and finish work. The woods are all from his reserve stock, including the beautiful set of high-grade CSA rosewood for the back and sides; the neck is Spanish cedar and the African ebony fingerboard has a hidden cocobolo reinforcement. The sound is superb, with a rich, velvety texture to each note, and the guitar is extremely responsive, with plenty of volume for any concert setting. It also has a 20th fret for a high C natural. The label is signed by German, dated 2016 and numbered 82716.

Two Videos

In the videos above, Ines Thome plays Carcassi’s Etude No. 7 on a G.V. Rubio, and the Belgrade Guitar Duo plays Bogdanović’s “Sonata Fantasia”.

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.