Amalia Ramírez

Very few names have been as influential in the development and history of the guitar as the name José Ramírez. The family tradition was born around the year 1870, when a 12 year-old boy began an apprenticeship at a local builder's workshop. He worked to develop his skills and in 1882 he founded the José Ramírez workshop. Now in its fourth generation, the Ramírez name continues to be the gold standard by which all other spanish classical and flamenco guitars are measured.

Amalia Ramírez was born in Madrid in October 1955, daughter to José Ramírez III. She joined the workshop at age 21, learning the craft alongside her brother José IV. After a few years absence she returned to help her brother run the shop. Being as creative as she is resourceful, she was at first in charge of the administration and marketing, but eventually took over the workshop itself.

The Ramírez workshop has undergone many important changes during her generation: In order to enhance quality, she and her brother reduced the size of the workshop and moved it to a new location in 1993. After the death of José IV in June 2000, she completely took over the workshop and committed herself to carrying on the family tradition: “I am in personal charge of supervising the processes and the quality of each and every guitar. Once completed, I check them again myself, to be sure that nothing more can be done to make them more perfect”.

A recent and exciting development in the workshop is the creation of the SP series. This project was originally conceived during the 1980’s, but due to several reasons it did not materialize until recently, under the direction of Amalia. The SP (which stands for semi-professional) model is designed to provide the professional musician that has limited financial means with an instrument of professional quality. These guitars bridge the gap, both financially and in terms of quality, between the student models and the concert guitars (hence the term “semi-professional"), and they are available with a spruce or a cedar soundboard.


 

“…It took me several days, following a profusion of study and calculations, to start sawing off the first board in order to achieve the greatest beauty, the best conditions for sound and resistance, and the highest degree of usability…”

- José Ramírez III, Things About the Guitar




 Having worked with Francisco González for twelve years, José I founded his own shop. It is during this time that he finalized his "guitarra de tablao" flamenco design, which became the predominant style in its day. Created in response to the needs of flamenco players, this development was to prove a significant boost to his career. This is not to say the workshop only produced flamenco guitars:  many different guitars were built, in different sizes and designed for different purposes. Several important luthiers trained under José Ramírez I, not the least his brother Manuel Ramírez, who was to become one of the most influential--and underrated--luthiers of all time. 



It is ironic that the skills of a great guitar-maker and a great guitar-player are seldom one and the same. José Ramírez II was a rare exception, being not only a skilled luthier, but also an accomplished player. His skill as a guitarist led him to a tour of South America, which ended up becoming a 20 year stay, most of it spent in Argentina. It is there he met his wife-to-be, Blanca, with whom he had 2 children: José and Alfredo. Upon receiving news of his father’s death in 1923, José II returned to Spain, and in 1925 took over the family’s workshop.



“…It took me several days, following a profusion of study and calculations, to start sawing off the first board in order to achieve the greatest beauty, the best conditions for sound and resistance, and the highest degree of usability…” (“Things About the Guitar”, José Ramírez III, Soneto Editions, pp21).

These words eloquently demonstrate the love of the craft as well as the tenacious precision that has characterized the José Ramírez workshop since its inception. With the work of José III came a turning point. In spite of the difficulties of procuring materials and woods due to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, José III managed to acquire enough to experiment with new designs. Although his first guitars were built in the traditional style of his father and grandfather, a few events occurred which lead José III to venture in new directions. Two specific events could be considered pivotal: first, the introduction of the nylon string in the post-war years, and second, the emergence of several world-class performers who found themselves playing in larger concert halls to much bigger audiences.

To accommodate these needs, José III made several changes to the design of his guitars. He increased the size of the soundbox; he added a cypress lining to the sides of the instrument; he experimented with different types of finishes, and claimed to have developed a varnish which crystalized like shellac (French polish) but had the durability of lacquer. Perhaps most importantly, he introduced--for the first time--the use of red cedar in the construction of soundboards.

All these improvements led to the 1A Tradicional model we know today. Many world-renowned players were immediately drawn to this new guitar, among them Andrés Segovia, who began his career with a guitar made by Manuel Ramírez. After opting for a German instrument (Hermann Hauser) for many years, in the 1960’s Segovia decided to return to a Spanish instrument. Partly because of nationalistic sentiment, but also due to the need for a guitar with enough volume to fill a large concert hall, he played on José Ramírez guitars to the end of his days. Thus one of the greatest careers in the history of the classical guitar began and ended with Ramírez guitars.

The evolution of the Ramírez guitar continued with José IV. Even though at first he mostly built the “Tradicional” model designed by his father, he also designed a new model: the 1A Especial. But perhaps his most important contribution was that of designing and promoting the student models: the E and R series. José IV passed away in June of 2000, and Amalia has taken over the workshop since.

Guitar Salon International is the exclusive U.S. distributor of José Ramírez classical and flamenco guitars.