1910 José Ramírez I SP/MH

Year	1910
Top	Spruce
Back & Sides	Mahogany
Scale Length	640 mm
Nut width	52 mm
Finish	French Polish
Country	Spain
Luthier	José Ramírez I

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The front of a 1910 Jose Ramirez I classical guitar made of spruce and mahogany

The back and heel of a 1910 Jose Ramirez I classical guitar made of spruce and mahogany

The machine heads of a 1910 Jose Ramirez I classical guitar made of spruce and mahogany

The fretboard and rosette of a 1910 Jose Ramirez I classical guitar made of spruce and mahogany

The back of a 1910 Jose Ramirez I classical guitar made of spruce and mahogany

The bridge of a 1910 Jose Ramirez I classical guitar made of spruce and mahogany

The side of a 1910 Jose Ramirez I classical guitar made of spruce and mahogany

The rosette of a 1910 Jose Ramirez I classical guitar made of spruce and mahogany

The headstock of a 1910 Jose Ramirez I classical guitar made of spruce and mahogany

The label of a 1910 Jose Ramirez I classical guitar made of spruce and mahogany

Stephanie Jones performs João Pernambuco's "Graúna" on a 1910 José Ramirez I classical guitar

This Guitar is Older Than Your Grandma! Guitar: 1910 Jose Ramirez

Francisco Tárrega's "Endecha" performed by Xeno Müller II on a 1910 Jose Ramirez I

Mela Guitar Quartet performs "Moto Perpetuo" by Frank Bridge on four Jose Ramirez guitars

Description

This 1910 José Ramírez I is a spruce and mahogany classical guitar made in Madrid – in amazing, original condition, with a perfectly domed top that has no fan braces at all.

In the videos above, Stephanie Jones plays João Pernambuco's "Graúna", Xeno Müller II plays Tárrega's "Endecha", there is a short video about this guitar, and the Mela Guitar Quartet plays Frank Bridge's "Moto Perpetuo" on four José Ramírez guitars including this one.

A Top with No Fan Braces

This is a beautiful, incredibly well-preserved classical guitar from the shop of José Ramírez I, built at a time when he had already been an independent guitar maker for nearly 3 decades. Aesthetically the guitar shows the strong influence of his teacher, Francisco González – particularly in the head shape, the wide bouts of the plantilla, and the bridge shape with tapered wings. The guitar is in amazing, original condition and astonishingly, the doming in the top is perfect, despite the fact that the top has no fan braces or bridge patch on the underside! Apart from the two harmonic bars above and below the soundhole, the top has no braces.

Sound and Playability

Soundwise, this is powerful and rich-sounding, with an abundance of harmonics in every note. Playability is a breeze – Germán Vázquez Rubio recently adjusted the setup so it's ready for prime time. Absolutely charming and elegant in every way.

Background

José Ramírez I: Founder of the Ramírez Workshop

José Ramírez I (1858–1923) founded the José Ramírez workshop in Madrid around 1882 – the family business that has dominated Spanish guitar making ever since. He joined Francisco González, the leading Madrid maker of the day, as an apprentice at the age of 12, and once he had established a style based on González's guitars he stuck to it throughout his life. In 1890 he took his famous premises at Concepción Jerónima No. 2.

Concepción Jerónima No. 2 and Its Apprentices

There he trained a remarkable series of makers: his brother Manuel Ramírez, Enrique García, Julián Gómez Ramírez (who later settled in Paris and befriended Robert Bouchet) and his own son José Ramírez II. Flamenco players came to him for more projection, and he created the Ramírez tablao guitar for them – a large but shallow cypress body with a domed soundboard.