2019 German Vázquez Rubio "Monarca Elite" No. 42519 CD/CSAR

This 2019 German Vázquez Rubio “Monarca Elite” No. 42519 is a classical guitar with a cedar top and CSA rosewood back and sides, made in Los Angeles, California – his double-top model; Patricio Crom and Aaron Haas play it in the videos above.

A Double Top with a Traditional Sound

German’s “double-top” model stands with the “Custom Elite” at the top of his range. Its soundboard is his own design: a Nomex core between an inner layer of spruce and an outer layer of cedar, with a traditional, symmetrical five-fan bracing. His aim was a new design with a big, traditional sound.

Materials, Sound and Label

Only his finest, most precious materials go into it, all from his reserve stock – here a beautiful set of high-grade CSA rosewood for the back and sides, a Spanish cedar neck and an African ebony fingerboard with hidden cocobolo reinforcement – and the carving, inlay and finish show his most refined craftsmanship. The sound is superb, rich and velvety on every note, and very responsive, with plenty of volume for any concert setting; a 20th fret gives the high C natural. Its “Desde 1968” label carries German’s signature, the year 2019 and No. 42519; “Monarca” is written beside the number.

Two Videos

Patricio Crom plays his “Tango pa el Salón”, written for GSI, on a G.V. Rubio “Monarca Elite”, and Aaron Haas accompanies Anastasia Malliaras in Britten’s “Sailor Boy” on a G.V. Rubio.

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.