2025 German Vázquez Rubio "Concert 635" No. 011825 SP/MP

This 2025 German Vázquez Rubio “Concert 635” No. 011825 is a classical guitar with a spruce top and maple back and sides, made in Los Angeles, California – with African blackwood binding and a 50mm nut.

Unique and Striking Design Elements

German gives the model several unique, striking design elements, and the result is a beautiful concert instrument.

Woods, Binding and Headstock

Each time German builds one of these for us, he playfully changes small details, so every guitar is unique. Here African blackwood is used in the binding, heel cap and back center strip, framing the lighter quarter-sawn spruce top, flamed maple back and sides and flamed maple neck. The headstock is layered – an African blackwood front veneer, three layers of palo escrito and padauk for the back headplate – and “opens” elegantly into the neck when viewed from behind. Blue, yellow, red and green accents appear in the rosette and tie block, with very fine half-herringbone purflings on the top and front head inlays; it has Schaller GrandTune frictionless machines and upgraded gold EVO frets. The shellac finish is applied with a level of attention to detail and perfection found in very few makers.

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. A 20th fret gives the high C natural. In short: beautiful sound and intricate work. The label is signed by German, dated 2025 and numbered 011825, 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.