2020 German Vázquez Rubio "Estudio 635" No. 22720 CD/PE

This 2020 German Vázquez Rubio “Estudio 635” No. 22720 is a classical guitar with a cedar top and palo escrito back and sides, made in Los Angeles, California, with a 635mm scale and an ebony fingerboard.

An Advanced Student Concert Guitar

This model is a genuine G.V. Rubio guitar, built in German’s Los Angeles workshop. For the student and the player starting out on the concert stage, it is a top-of-the-line instrument in every way.

Materials, Sound and Playability

Its top is cedar, with an African ebony fingerboard and a Spanish cedar neck. German uses palo escrito – a very fine rosewood from Mexico – for the back and sides. It plays easily, and the sound is great. It has a 635mm string length, so it plays extremely easily. A hand-thinned lacquer protects it.

Condition and Label

German’s label – “Constructor, Desde 1968” – is signed, dated 2020 and numbered 22720, 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.