2019 German Vázquez Rubio "Concert 635" No. 110819 SP/MP

This 2019 German Vázquez Rubio “Concert 635” No. 110819 is a classical guitar with a spruce top and maple back and sides, made in Los Angeles, California – with padauk binding and an ebony head veneer; Dragos Ilie plays one in the video above.

A Shorter-Scale Concert Guitar

Several unique and striking design elements make this a beautiful concert guitar to look at as well as to hear.

Inlays, Woods and Finish

Padauk is used in the binding, back center strip and tie block, framing the quarter-sawn spruce and flamed maple with its contrasting hue. The headstock is layered in four pieces of maple and three of padauk, with an ebony front veneer, and “opens” elegantly into the neck when viewed from behind. Half-herringbone purfling on the top and head veneer matches the rosette, the back has a mosaic in the center seam based on the rosette’s central mosaic, and there is a subtle use of blue in the rosette and head veneer inlay. The shellac finish has been applied with the kind of perfection very few makers attain.

Playability, Sound and Condition

Clear, full trebles sit over deep basses with a nice, bouncy response. Playability is a dream, with a very low action and the shorter 635mm string length. It also has a 20th fret for a high C natural. All in all, a beautiful-sounding concert guitar, intricately made. The 2019 label is numbered 110819 and signed by German, with “-635-” written beside it.

In the Video Above

Dragos Ilie plays Miroslav Tadić’s “Walk Dance” on a German Vázquez Rubio “Concert 635”.

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.