2019 German Vázquez Rubio "7 String" No. 22419 SP/CSAR

This 2019 German Vázquez Rubio “7 String” No. 22419 is a 7-string classical guitar with a spruce top and CSA rosewood back and sides, made in Los Angeles, California – an extended-range concert guitar in German spruce and CSA rosewood.

German’s Seven-String

German has carefully crafted this seven-string guitar with unique specifications to achieve maximum comfort and quality of sound. He built it with his finest materials, including reserve-stock German spruce for the soundboard, CSA rosewood back and sides and a Spanish cedar neck, finished in a hand-thinned French polish of shellac. These materials were selected to achieve the utmost clarity and balance that any extended-range guitarist needs.

Sound and Label

Bold and powerful, the sound has a rich, velvety texture to each note; the guitar is extremely responsive and loose, with plenty of volume for any concert setting, and its truly powerful yet focused basses and singing trebles make it a sonic gem for the most discerning musician. There is a 20th fret for a high C natural. The label is signed by German, dated 2019 and numbered 22419.

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.