1982 José Ramírez "1a European Nylon String" No. 122 SP/IN

This 1982 José Ramírez "1a European Nylon String" No. 122 is a nylon-string acoustic guitar with a spruce top and Indian rosewood back and sides – one of José Ramírez III's rare 1980s acoustic designs; Twanguero plays Merle Travis's "Blue Smoke" on it in the video above.

José Ramírez III's Acoustic Guitars

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. In the 1980s José Ramírez III made three different types of acoustic guitar: one with the dreadnought shape and steel strings, and two of his own design, called "European" – one with steel strings and the other with nylon strings.

The European Nylon String Model

This guitar is the European nylon-string model, an original José Ramírez design with a smaller body than its western counterparts. It is an artisan acoustic guitar with nylon strings, a German spruce top and Indian rosewood back and sides fitted with two beautiful cypress panels. It has a red label, numbered 122 and dated 1982.

For the story of the workshop, read The Ramírez Family: Masters of the Guitar and The José Ramírez Dynasty; for some interesting fact-checking, see José Ramírez: myths and facts.

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".