2024 German Vázquez Rubio "Custom Elite" No. 41824 SP/CSAR

This 2024 German Vázquez Rubio “Custom Elite” No. 41824 is a classical guitar with a spruce top and CSA rosewood back and sides, made in Los Angeles, California – European spruce aged more than 35 years, CSA rosewood and Rodgers tuners.

The “Custom Elite”: His Reserve Stock

This is the top-of-the-line model from G.V. Rubio in every way. It is built with only his finest, most precious materials from his reserve stock, has his unique and sophisticated bracing pattern, and shows off his most delicate, refined craftsmanship in the carving, inlay and finish work.

Materials

Here the materials include a premium European spruce top aged more than 35 years and high-grade CSA rosewood for the back and sides, with a mahogany neck and an African ebony fingerboard with hidden cocobolo reinforcement. The fingerboard is raised for comfort in the upper registers and has a 20th fret for a high C natural, and the tuning machines are by Rodgers.

Sound and Label

Its sound is superb, with a rich, velvety texture to each note, and it is extremely responsive and loose, with plenty of volume for any concert setting – this is German Vázquez Rubio at his absolute finest. On the label: German’s signature, the year 2024 and the number 41824, with “Elite” 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.