2020 German Vázquez Rubio "Requinto Popular Romántico" No. 41220 SP/WN

This 2020 German Vázquez Rubio “Requinto Popular Romántico” No. 41220 is a requinto with a spruce top and walnut back and sides, made in Los Angeles, California – a 555mm requinto in aged German spruce and walnut.

A Requinto for Popular and Romantic Music

This requinto model from G.V. Rubio has a 555mm string length. Tuned a fourth higher than a standard guitar, to A, it sounds like a guitar with a capo at the 5th fret, yet it uses ordinary normal-tension classical strings and is played in the same way. The requinto owes its popularity in the 20th century to Mexican trios such as Los Panchos, Los Dandys and Los Tres Ases, and session musicians still reach for one when a recording needs a bright, clean melody line. Its smaller scale also makes for an easier reach than a full-size classical guitar.

Materials and Label

It is made with aged German spruce for the soundboard and a beautiful set of walnut for the back and sides, with a Spanish cedar neck – with a hidden fixed reinforcement – and an African ebony fingerboard. A hand-thinned nitrocellulose matte lacquer gives it amazing sustain and volume, and it has traditional decoration, including abalone inlay in the rosette. The 2020 label is numbered 41220 and signed by German.

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.