2020 German Vázquez Rubio "Concert 635" No. 91720 SP/MP

This 2020 German Vázquez Rubio “Concert 635” No. 91720 is a classical guitar with a spruce top and maple back and sides, made in Los Angeles, California – snakewood binding, leopard wood and his Elite headstock.

German’s 635mm Concert Model

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

Materials and Details

Snakewood is used in the binding and back center strip, framing the quarter-sawn spruce, flamed maple back and sides and flamed maple neck with its dark-brownish hue. The headstock – four pieces of maple and three of palo escrito, with a rosewood front veneer – “opens” elegantly into the neck when viewed from behind; German gave it his “Elite”-shaped headstock with “vanishing” inlay on the front veneer, and used leopard wood for the veneer on the back of the head and for the heel cap. A subtle touch of blue runs through the rosette, tie block, top purfling and head veneer inlay. It has gold EVO frets and Schaller GrandTune frictionless machines with snakewood buttons to match the binding. Its French polish shows the attention to detail and perfection that very few makers achieve.

Sound, Playability and Label

The basses are deep and bouncy, the trebles very clear and full. With a very low action and a 635mm string length, it is a dream to play. There is also a 20th fret, for repertoire that needs a high C natural. Overall, a beautiful-sounding and intricately made concert guitar. Although used, it is in excellent condition, with virtually no signs of prior use. German’s label – “Constructor, Desde 1968” – is signed, dated 2020 and numbered 91720, 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.