2002 José Ramírez "Centenario" No. 142 CD/CSAR

This 2002 José Ramírez "Centenario" No. 142 is a classical guitar with a cedar top and CSA rosewood back and sides – the lowest Centenario number in our museum, donated to the GSI Foundation.

Made Under Amalia Ramírez

For more than fifty years, guitars from the José Ramírez workshop have been in the hands of countless professionals, from Segovia to Sting, from Sabicas to Chet Atkins and from Christopher Parkening to Lee Ritenour. Amalia Ramírez, who succeeded her brother José IV in 2000, inspects every guitar from the workshop during and after construction, and this one comes from the early years of her direction.

The "Centenario": A Hundred Years of Ramírez

"Centenario" means 100 years, and here it marks the hundredth anniversary of guitar making in the Ramírez family. The guitar is made from the workshop's finest materials, collected over many, many years – the tops are the 1st pick of the 1st-class soundboards, and the same goes for the rosewood back and sides. As you can see from the photos, there is a significant amount of additional detailing: a sculpted heel cap, boxwood inlay in the headstock, tapered ebony on the back of the neck ending in a "rosewood bouquet" on the back of the headstock, and extremely intricate wood inlays in the purfling and rosette. The tuners are by Rodgers. Although the workshop states that it is made with the same dimensions and proportions as the other 1a models, our experience is that these are the best guitars made by the workshop, bar none.

Playability, Sound and Condition

It has great power and beauty of sound, and with its lovely neck and easy action it is wonderfully easy to play. The tone is thick yet clear, with that essential warm, mysterious and moody quality that made Ramírez famous. Although it was previously owned, it has barely any signs of playing wear and is in fantastic condition. A hardshell case was included. Signed by Amalia Ramírez, the label gives the year 2002 and the number 142.

GSI Foundation

This guitar was donated to our non-profit charitable organization, the GSI Foundation. Guitar sales through the GSI Foundation raise money to directly benefit music education in public schools.

More reading on our blog: The Ramírez Family: Masters of the Guitar, The José Ramírez Dynasty (from Amalia back to José I) and some interesting fact-checking in 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.

The Workshop Under Amalia Ramírez

Under Amalia Ramírez the workshop has kept the classic concert guitar at the heart of its range – the "1a" (first class) in the "Tradicional" design, its model code written by hand on the label: C650 for a cedar top with Indian rosewood, "-A" for a spruce (abeto) top, "-P" for CSA rosewood (palosanto) and "-AP" for both, with F656 and F656-A for the cedar and spruce flamencos. Around it she has built a wider family of models: the "Centenario" and "Elite", made with the workshop's most precious woods; the reissued "SP" and "2a"; the "Auditorio", "Antigua" and "Guitarra del Tiempo"; anniversary series such as the "125 Años" and "130 Años"; replicas of historic guitars, from the 1912 Manuel Ramírez played by Segovia to the 1913 "Guitarra de Tablao" of José Ramírez I; and the studio lines NE, R and FL. The concert guitars carry the Calle de la Paz 8 label, signed by Amalia Ramírez with her star signature and numbered with a letter-and-number code (Centenario and Elite have numbers of their own), while the studio guitars have an orange "Guitarras de Estudio" label, "Diseñada, Revisada y Certificada por Ramírez", with the red "Calidad Ramírez" stamp.