Ramirez Flamenco

[condebob]

Guys,

What is the collected wisdom of the group. Are the mid 80's Ramirez 1aF guitars out of fashion or what?

Does any one out there have any experience with these fine instruments, positive or negative.

Please advise...


Robert

[Dimitri]

Hi Condebob,
People still play them, but the de facto standard for flamenco guitarists in the last 15 years has seemed to be Conde Hermanos A25 and A26, from the Felipe V shop in Madrid.

As a former owner of an A26 blanca, I won't comment on its quality, as my opinion is simply that: one opinion among many.

With that said, I will say that I own an '83 Ramirez 1a flamenco negra (very similar in sound and look as Manolo Sanlucar's Ramirez, which he played in Carlos Saura's movie "Flamenco").

It's the only negra I own, and I'm happy with it. But eventually, I'll probably upgrade to a better negra: perhaps from Lester DeVoe or Aaron Green.

Dimitri

[keith]

hey dimitri--wow!! someone who knows aaron green. how do you know of him? he has his shop in waltham mass (burb of boston) and last year, while driving from a store i saw his shop, went in and got a first hand tour. last fall he asked me to demo one of his blanca's. i was very impressed with the sound and workmanship. he is definitely one of the new stars rising.

hey guess what, i can finally use this guy: :mrgreen: for the luthier named above

[edwardcav]

Location: Australia 8)

[Dimitri]

Hi Keith,
I had heard some pretty great things about his guitars on my site's foro, and decided to contact him and ask if he had any flamencos that he could send me to try out.

He didn't have any at the moment, but he put me in contact with a gentleman in my area who owned some of his earlier guitars. This gentleman came by my place and brought two of Aaron's guitars with him: one negra and one blanca.

The negra was quite nice indeed. But, it wasn't until I picked up that blanca and strummed a few rasqueos that I was absolutely blown away. The sound was explosive and like nothing I've ever played before. It was like the guitar wanted to jump out of my hands and play itself!

Needless to say, I immediately contacted Aaron about building me a blanca. It's been a few months now, and I hope the guitar will be ready by the end of the year.

I agree, people will definitely start hearing more and more about this amazing young builder. He's only in his late-20's and, already, his guitars are better then practically any guitar out there. They're certainly better than any guitar I've ever played or owned (Gerundino, Manzanero, Ramirez, Manuel de la Chica, Conde, Oribe, DeVoe...)

Dimitri

[keith]

boy you are correct. i have my guitars up for sale so i can move up to that level. not only do they explode with sound, but his blancas are patterned after the marcelo barbero sabicas used (the actual one at that). hard to go wrong with that legacy. the guitar i played last fall just had all of those great qualities one would expect of a well built guitar--and to boot, his guitars are french polished (which has to be one of the all time great smells). guess i better get my rear in action and post some guitars on e-bay.

8)

[edwardcav]

condebob,

where are u in oz? give me an email, i got a few ??s that i could ask that migt not be appropriate for this board.

[condebob]

sure, love to,

whats your email??

[edwardcav]

edwardcavanagh@hotmail.com 8)

[Jonny Hotnuts]

As always Dimitri, thank for the info.

Also thanks for the call.

:wink: