2003 José Ramírez "Centenario" No. 146 SP/CSAR

This 2003 José Ramírez "Centenario" No. 146 is a classical guitar with a spruce top and CSA rosewood back and sides, French polished and donated to the GSI Foundation.

A 2003 José Ramírez from Madrid

This guitar was built in the famous José Ramírez workshop in Madrid, which for well over half a century has made instruments for countless professionals – Sting and Segovia, Chet Atkins and Sabicas, Lee Ritenour and Christopher Parkening. 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 Finest Materials of the Workshop

The model commemorates the hundredth anniversary of the Ramírez family as guitar makers, so the workshop builds it from its very finest wood – first pick of the first-class tops, and of the rosewood too. Compared with the 1a, it carries much more detailing – a sculpted heel cap, a "rosewood bouquet" at the end of the tapered ebony on the back of the neck, boxwood inlay in the headstock and extremely intricate inlays in the purfling and rosette. The tuners are by Rodgers. On paper it is the same guitar as the other 1a models; in our experience, though, the Centenarios are the best guitars made by the workshop, bar none.

The Label and Condition

This is a spruce-top Centenario, finished in French polish. It has great power and beauty of sound and is wonderfully easy to play. You hear it straight away: the warm, colorful and moody Ramírez sound, thick yet clear. 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 2003 and the number 146.

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.

To learn more about the family and its workshop, read The Ramírez Family: Masters of the Guitar, our history of the family from Amalia Ramírez back to José I, and 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.

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.