1974 José Ramírez "1a 8-String" No. 7766 CD/CSAR

This 1974 José Ramírez "1a 8-String" No. 7766 is a classical guitar with a cedar top and CSA rosewood back and sides; Derek Gripper plays his "Koortjie" on it in the video above.

The 8-String Guitar

The José Ramírez III workshop, where this guitar was made, supplied countless professionals over more than fifty years: Andrés Segovia and Sabicas, Christopher Parkening and Chet Atkins, Lee Ritenour and even Sting. Although eight-string instruments like this appear rarely on the market, they have a steady tradition of top players, including Brazilian guitarists Egberto Gismonti and Raphael Rabello, Italian guitarist Livio Gianola and the great pedagogue José Tomás from Spain. Perhaps the best-known player is Paul Galbraith, who plays a uniquely designed eight-string guitar by David Rubio, known as his "Brahms" model.

Tuning and Repertoire

These guitars can be tuned a variety of ways – this one is currently strung with two lower bass strings, which many players will find helps them with Renaissance and Baroque lute music. For this repertoire, six-string players are required to transpose bass notes up or down an octave in places that break the original musical flow intended by the composer. The eight-string guitar resolves many such inconveniences and also makes it possible to perform arrangements of larger pieces originally written for the piano or larger ensembles, like chamber music or orchestral works – to this end, some players add one lower bass string and one higher treble.

Sound and Condition

This guitar has that essential warm, mysterious and moody quality that made Ramírez famous through performances and recordings by countless players over many decades. The 1974 label carries No. 7766 and the signature of José Ramírez III. Condition is excellent for its age – apart from two well-repaired cracks in the back (cleated, so very stable), it has only the slightest amount of playing wear, with a few minor dings and scratches. Overall, an excellent example of a fine eight-string Ramírez for either collector or concert player.

For more information on Ramírez, be sure to read The Ramírez Family: Masters of the Guitar, or for information on the Ramírez family members, from Amalia Ramírez back to José I, and for some interesting fact-checking on myths and facts about this legendary workshop.

The José Ramírez Workshop of Madrid

Founded in Madrid in 1882 by José Ramírez I, the Ramírez workshop has produced guitars for more than a century and through five generations of the family. José Ramírez III (1922–1995) took over as maestro in 1957 and developed the Ramírez concert guitar we know today – large in body, with a long string length and a cedar or spruce top, with great power, sustain, sweetness and balance across the entire register. He popularized western red cedar as a soundboard wood, and from the 1960s Andrés Segovia played José Ramírez guitars to the end of his days.

Ramírez Craftsmen and the Next Generations

From the 1960s to the 1990s the workshop trained many of the most talented guitarreros of the day, among them Paulino Bernabé and Manuel Contreras. In 1995 the shop moved from Calle Concepción Jerónima 2 to Calle de la Paz 8, and since the death of José Ramírez IV in June 2000 the business has been directed by his sister, Amalia Ramírez, who inspects every guitar during and after construction.

Ramírez Models, Labels and Builders' Stamps

For decades the workshop sold its guitars by class rather than by model name. The "1a" (first class) was the standard concert guitar; the "2a" (second class) was built the same way, and the shop explained its lower price tag by materials that might have minor aesthetic blemishes, or by its having been built by an apprentice rather than a foreman. Flamenco guitars add an "F" – "1aF" and "2aF". Until 1967 the labels carried only the year; from 1967 they were signed by José Ramírez III and gave the guitar's number and class, and from 1973 the 2a had a grey label of its own, with a red border and "R" numbers. Until 1971, many Ramírez guitars were stamped inside with the initials of the craftsman who built them – AM for Antonio Martínez, MT for Mariano Tezanos, PB for Paulino Bernabé and many more (see our list of Ramírez workshop luthiers). Later decades brought new models: the "Centenario", which roughly marked the workshop's hundredth anniversary; the "Da Cámara"; the shorter-scale C86 of 1986; and, under José Ramírez IV, the "Tradicional" and the "Especial".