David Rubio

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Rubio in his workshop in the 1990s

David Rubio, original name David Joseph Spinks (born London, 1934 - died Cambridge on 21 October 2000), was an English maker of musical instruments.

A true Renaissance man in spirit, David Rubio has been a modern-day version of the celebrated makers of lutes in the 16th century: a music-lover with refined taste, a perfect knowledge of the materials and his techniques, and a rare skill in organizing the atelier and its production.

Giving space to his natural eclecticism he built virtually everything a luthier can build: guitars, lutes, harpsichords, theorbos, vihuelas, citterns, pandoras, and finally also violins, violas and cellos.

Gifted with a clear and inquiring mind, with the help of eminent Cambridge scientists, he investigated many aspects of the technology of instrument-making, such as aspects of classical violin varnish and ground layer, in his attempt to re-create the classical sound and appearance of the celebrated old Cremonese instruments.

David Rubio in the 1990s

His legacy is now celebrated throughout the world, with a magnificent heritage of over a thousand instruments built in 40 years of tireless activity, and in the workshop experiences shared with a number of young makers always in touch with him through the internet till the day when he died at the age of 65.