1969 Jose Ramirez "1a AM" CD/CSAR (ex Andres Segovia)

Stamped internally "AM" (designating that it was constructed by Ramirez worker Antonio Martinez), this is one of the primary instruments the great Andres Segovia owned and played from 1969 until 1980, as documentation from Jose Ramirez III attests (in translation): "...the classical guitar number 3.339...was habitually played by maestro Segovia in his concerts, during 1969 and successive years". We decided to keep this instrument here in our facility for over two years for the purpose of being able to show it to several leading concert players, aficionados and lovers of the guitar. Response to it was overwhelming and unanimous - it is not just a transcendent Ramirez, it's a transcendent musical instrument that happens to be a guitar, and all of this regardless of its provenance (although the provenance is fantastic of course). It is such a rare privilege to have an instrument of this caliber and historical value that we held the guitar back from sale in order to show it to the public, players, luthiers and aficionados, and to document it with several videos and recordings - indeed this is the most "video'd" guitar ever in GSI history! Another highlight is that we were able to have Scott Tennant record his CD "The Segovia Sessions" with it, which drew enormous attention from the press which you can see in these feature articles in "Classical Guitar" Magazine and "Guitar Aficionado" Magazine.. We even had a farewell party for it - a fantastic event here in the GSI showroom where it was played by many of our friends and supplemented with lectures by our very own David Collett and Segovia buff David Norton. One of the most memorable guitars to ever pass through our doors for sure!