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#1
11-13-2022, 09:51 PM
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New Guitar Again? Pt 1 of 3: 2020 German Vazquez Rubio & A BIG Thank You
Short version:
After waiting almost a year, picked up my 2022 German Vazquez Rubio in August. As I played it, began to notice, most importantly, quite a bit of intonation issues, a general lack of volume, and dead spots. Reached out to Armand, stopped by the shop, not knowing how this was going to be resolved. Had me play 2 guitars on hand, and BOTH were incredible, violently beautiful. Caught me by surprise they were both spruce tops. Gave me FULL credit, and I left with the 2020 custom cutaway with a VERY interesting history, that I already met once before! A HUGE THANK YOU to German & Armand. It's amazing enough to be a master luthier, but in my estimation even greater to be so kind and accommodating. German's words, "I want you to be happy." :bravo: :merci: To say "I'm happy," and grateful, appreciative, impressed, blown away would be an understatement. :bye:  Model: 2020 German Vazquez Rubio Custom Elite Cutaway Specs: Serial #60120 Soundboard: 20+ Year Aged Master Grade Elite German Spruce Elevated Fingerboard Custom Arched Top Sides & Back: Master Grade Elite Indian Rosewood Fingerboard: African Ebony Finish: French Polished Scale: 650 mm Nut Width: 50 mm Design: 12th fret at body Fret Markers: 7th (triangle) Tuning Machines: Fustero Tie Block: 12-Hole Strings: D'Addario EJ46, as tested; Savarez Alliance Cantiga Premium NORMAL Tension, as delivered. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The LONG version - details, pics, and a few lessons along the way for me... PLEASE KNOW: Throughout the 3 months as these things became more obvious, I have been in contact with Armand, and he was very helpful & responsive, offering various suggestions (which I tried), and also sending a set of Savarez strings to try out. Saturday, Nov 5th, 10a: I arrive at the shop, both 2022 Rubio and my trusty H5 in tow. I shared my observations of the 2022 Rubio: 1. There were some details, like visible dots along the rosette, minor finishing needed on a few spots, etc. In the end, had this been the ONLY concern, as long as the sound was awesome, I would have accepted whatever retouching could be done. But, as I learned, in all fairness to German's truly old-school hand-made style, he uses no modern equipment, and slightly imperfect details are bound to happen.  2. Intonation: Yes, I'm the culprit who spends 95% of the time playing with a capo between the 5th to the 10th fret. I expected things to be off a little, but in a few instances notes were flat and others sharp enough to drive me nuts, WITHOUT the capo. Armand did assure me that's normally not a difficult fix. 3. Volume/Tone: What made me go ahead with the custom order was a 14th fret joined at the body sample they had in the shop. Playability was obviously incredible, although the sound wasn't impressive. It was a spruce top, and I thought, as usual convention would say, that it takes time for spruce tops to open up. And I was going with cedar anyways. So I thought. (The 6 peaks are E-A-D-G-B-E)  I went in thinking, even accepting some performance loss because of the cutaway, but was hoping that with his skill that somehow it would at least be close or equal to my H5. The H5, while not a top tier instrument, was no slouch. The best way to describe the difference - in simple volume, the H5 easily out-projected the cedar Rubio. In tone, imagine a candle - the wick is the note, the circumference of the candle is the general sound. The cedar Rubio was like a skinny candle, while the H5 was a fatter candle. The fatter the candle, the more the voices of the strings played and sounded together. I agree with Armand the Rubio notes sounded clearer, but much more solitary. 4. Dead spots: If most note lasted 3, 4 or more counts in my head, there were at least a dozen spots where the note decayed within a beat. Here's sound sample, and a chart of where they were located. (I'm curious, if there's any solution to this. Will post this question separately in the luthier forum.) Dead notes, or dead frets were there WITHOUT the capo, and more spots showed up WITH the capo. http://<font color="#000000"><b>http...are</b></font> Chart of dead spots/frets. RED for severely short note, ORANGE for short.  Armand suggested lowering the guitar by half a note. Doing so, the dead note MOVED. Instead of being 1st string 12th fret, it was now 1st string 11th fret. Certainly puzzling. He also mentioned that the more I played those notes, the more it would improve. While there may be some efficacy to that, I'm not sure I want to spend a lot of time playing dead frets. (The H5 did have some dead ones, a few notes only, one on the 1st string high up on the 17th fret, some on the higher frets of the 6th string.) The unfortunate thing for the Rubio is the dead spots/frets were notes I played A LOT, while the H5 spots were rarely reached. I simply shared, "I think I'm not unreasonable in having higher expectations of an instrument from German. I just want a reasonable guitar for what I paid." In my mind, I have NO idea what could be done, or what they would do. Armand went to the back shop for a quick chat with German. Coming back, he opens their display case, and says, "Play this." First he hands me a standard (non-cutaway) instrument, with an elevated fingerboard and Brazilian rosewood. Simply playing each string from 6th to 1st, the tone and volume absolutely makes the hair on the back of my neck stand!  "THAT'S what I'm talking about!" My heart is so stunned my mind is filled with every 4-letter expletive, in a good way. Was even more surprised when he told me it was a SPRUCE top. What? No way. He handed me a second guitar. It's a cutaway. My thumb plays each string, and once again, I'm speechless. And it's another SPRUCE! To make things even more interesting, BOTH guitars had strings so old they were a bit discolored. And they both were still beautifully powerful.  Of course the capo goes on! Notes weren't dead center perfect, but close enough where I could play without retuning every string. Or any one of them for the most part. "So why is my guitar so weak, and these spruce tops are blasting away?" Armand explained the tops are from German's Reserve stock that at least 20+ years old. Additionally the arched top with the bracing also is left to set for a while before it goes on a guitar. I certainly have no complaints if it opens up some more. Very impressed with how its singing back to me right now. To be fair, I understand wood can be, and is temperamental. You never really know what you're getting until you get it. Did I get bad wood? Read on! Lesson #1, for me: Better to buy an instrument you can play, even if it's a used one. Easier said than done, especially because I wanted a cutaway, etc. If I were hunting for a standard one, even if it meant paying some shipping here and there, it'd be worth it. CONTINUED NEXT POST.
__________________
Jack 2020 German Vasquez Rubio Custom Elite Cutaway SP/IN 1997 Hirade H5 (In storage. Grandson *might* play it.) “I’m not a capable player. Just CAPOble.” 
Last edited by 91709jack; 11-13-2022 at 09:54 PM. Reason: correction 
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#2
11-13-2022, 09:52 PM
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Part 2 of 3: 2020 German Vazquez Rubio
So the next few moments are a blur. Then I hear Armand say,
"How about this. If you like, you can pick one of these. They're both top-of-the-line Elite guitars. Normally, we'll have to make a price adjustment if we take back an instrument, especially in a situation like yours, since it's customized to your specifications, which aren't the usual way most prefer, (e.g. cutaway, 640 mm scale, 48 mm nut width). But in this case, we won't. Just pay the difference. German said he wants you to be happy." I alternate between these 2 instruments for a good hour. Time flies! There's an argument within me - playability vs sound. As the current cedar cutaway taught me, as playable as it was, I wanted it to sound good too. The first guitar with Brazilian Rosewood will be an extra $3,500. There is the allure of owning something exotic, forbidden and desired. It is a beauty to behold, and a pain to photograph, as I've seen in a few threads on Delcamp. Even the headstock is Brazilian Rosewood, and the binding is some Snakewood that's not only rare but hard to work with. And more.  The second guitar, the cutaway, would be a straight swap. And it comes with a surprise: Armand goes, "That's the SAME guitar you tried out a year ago, but German made a few changes." Here's the guitar that started it all. It was built as a prototype for another customer, to make sure he was happy with his specs, because the actual instrument was going to be crafted with every exotic wood you could think of. The top was going to be the same German spruce, but that was it. Here it is, 14th fret at the body, floating fingerboard, etc.  Turns out the customer was NOT too concerned with volume. When I played it before, it was pretty much similar to how the current cedar top sounded. But at that time, I reasoned, "Of course it's more quiet. It's spruce that hasn't opened up. The cedar top should blow the roof off." German ended up replacing the neck with one that meets the body at the 12th fret, with an elevated fingerboard. He also moved the bridge lower. Notice how "high-waisted" it was BEFORE the changes? With those changes, the same guitar, same top, roared to life. I don't profess to know anything about the technical intricacies and physics of guitar building, but the 14th fret at the body with the bridge placement necessitated by it is a completely different animal. It's not that German can't do it, but his mastery is building guitars with a neck meeting at the 12th fret for over FIFTY years. 14th fret with higher bridge on left, revised on the right. (Forgive the weird left pic. Rotated it for easier viewing since I never took a straight shot of it.) Notice the "tan"? It got darker from the refinishing after the bridge move.  Spruce cutaway on the left, the cedar cutaway (in Armand's hand on the right) is even HIGHER waisted! If you look carefully for the "smudge" of where the bridge was before on the spruce on the left, the bridge on the cedar was even HIGHER!  The 2 spruce guitars sound fabulous, and even to my novice ears, are very different - standard flat top compared to the arched top. Winner? The cutaway of course. And there's something about the way the rosewood sides' wavy patterns that captivated me, more than the Brazilian... At this juncture the difference in sound wasn't like picking a robust sound over a weak one. It's more like someone sweating bullets agonizing whether one should get the BMW or MB. It's truly a first-world problem one's blessed with that deserves NO sympathy. At least for today! Had to leave it there for German to polish and tweak one last time, check intonation, etc. I drop by to pick it up around 6 pm 4 days later. By the time I get home it's 8:30 pm. After a quick dinner, I played at least 20 different songs I'm working on, and I finally had to go to bed a little past 2 am. But I have to make a call to Armand first thing in the morning. It's not quite a dead spot, but a definite noticeable weak note. Not quite as bad as the cedar one, but it's right on the 12th fret of the 1st string. I play that high E a LOT. A side-by-side decibel meter reading compared to the H5, showed the H5 with a lower sound, but lasting nearly TWICE as long.  And because the guitar was powerful, the relatively weaker sounding 1st string stuck out, or more like, got buried by the 2nd to the 6th strings in the higher registers from 9th on up.. So yes, I head off for the more than hour-long drive back to the shop at day's end. Lesson #2, for me: As much as I thought playability was supreme, quality of sound will ALWAYS beat it. So back to the shop I go after work's done. The Brazilian beauty's 12th fret on the 1st string definitely lasted longer than the cutaway's. By just a hair. Now I paid more attention to the sound as whole. There were non-sound points to be awarded to the much prettier Brazilian batting its wooden eyelashes at me. Its tone was much brighter, while the arched top cutaway a bit darker, closer to a piano. Had the Brazilian sounded like the cutaway, I would have gladly paid the difference and left with the exotic one. And to hell with playability. Asking more about the arched top, they asked that I do NOT post a picture of the bracing. It's German's secret sauce. And compared to the usual bracing I see in the shop, this was one a whole 'nother level. Because it's much stiffer, it allowed for an even slightly thinner top, but enough to make a significant difference. But I can share this - see the curvature?  After a minor adjustment of the action, it was time to go away... with my cutaway. Never thought I'd pick a spruce top! CONTINUED BELOW!
__________________
Jack 2020 German Vasquez Rubio Custom Elite Cutaway SP/IN 1997 Hirade H5 (In storage. Grandson *might* play it.) “I’m not a capable player. Just CAPOble.”
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#3
11-13-2022, 09:53 PM
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Part 3 of 3: 2020 German Vazquez Rubio
Pictures!
     Elevated fingerboard  Pretty significant angles on the arched top.   Even the backside is angled, as it doesn't lie flat.  When German moved the bridge - you can see where it used to be, it had to be refinished. Was it perfect? It's about as good as he could do. Can I live with it? Between the incredible sound and how graciously they took care of me, absolutely.  Armand suggested they put in a tiny protective piece where string changes like to leave their mark.  Speaking of strings, the worn out ones I first played were EJ46s. They put in a fresh set of Savarez Alliance Cantiga Premium. I find myself remembering, feeling that the EJ46 trebles sounded good. If I had to nitpick, with the Savarez every string sounds fabulous, except the 1st string. I had no such reaction when I was playing the old EJ46s. I won't be doing a 10-set test again, but will definitely try out a fresh set of the EJ46, one Aquila set (as I've been following the warmest strings thread, and the Knobloch & Dogal I already have. Lesson #3: It's VAZQUEZ, not Vasquez, as I misspelled it the first time.  There are movies where you have to stick around for a fun surprise stuffed into the credits at the end. It's very possible a surprise may be in the making, in the future. Armand promised to let me know if German decides to make a few "changes" to the quiet cedar cutaway. I'll make time to check that out. Yes, when my a fingernail recovers, I'll post a sample. I played so much my fingertips were in pain for a few days! P.S. Someone go pick up that Brazilian Rosewood guitar! I'm always a ONE item kind of a guy. Had I been a collector I would've taken both home. It's gorgeous from afar, and up close.  Thank you!
__________________
Jack 2020 German Vasquez Rubio Custom Elite Cutaway SP/IN 1997 Hirade H5 (In storage. Grandson *might* play it.) “I’m not a capable player. Just CAPOble.”
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#4
11-13-2022, 11:40 PM
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Wow! That's quite a write-up! And quite a guitar! Always nice to get a custom high end instrument from a well-known, highly-respected, world class luthier. All the more so when it looks, plays, and SOUNDS beautiful! Congrats man. I'm stoked for you!
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http://soundcloud.com/jwflamenco
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#5
11-14-2022, 03:48 PM
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Quite a story! Thank you for sharing it with us. German Vazquez Rubio sure sounds like a great luthier to work with!
Here’s the OP’s original thread when he initially ordered the guitar, for anyone interested in part 1 of this story. https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=626335
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#6
11-14-2022, 04:55 PM
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Quote:
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THANKS for including my original link. Hahaha. I FORGOT. 
__________________
Jack 2020 German Vasquez Rubio Custom Elite Cutaway SP/IN 1997 Hirade H5 (In storage. Grandson *might* play it.) “I’m not a capable player. Just CAPOble.”
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#8
11-16-2022, 01:17 PM
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Great story! It explains well the difference between a red cedar versus spruce soundboard … you clearly prefer the spruce sound! I recently received my custom K Yairi with a Red Cedar soundboard - actually a member of the Cypress species. It takes a few weeks for the sound to evolve and now I really like it’s warmth, compared to my other classical guitar with a spruce top. I think it will continue to improve and evolve as I play it more, as we all know. Spruce top classicals are beautiful sounding and German’s guitars are amazing!!
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Jeff Mark Hatcher Pina Parlor Torrified Maple/Cedar Stephen Kinnaird 00 B&W Ebony/Engelmann Spruce Simon Fay African Blackwood/Sinker Redwood Wolfgang Jellinghaus Torres Modelo 43S Maple/Spruce K Yairi CYTM Maple/Cedar
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#9
11-17-2022, 10:35 AM
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Quote:
Quote:
__________________
Jack 2020 German Vasquez Rubio Custom Elite Cutaway SP/IN 1997 Hirade H5 (In storage. Grandson *might* play it.) “I’m not a capable player. Just CAPOble.”
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