2004 José Ramírez "1a" No. Y4-138 SP/CSAR

This 2004 José Ramírez "1a" No. Y4-138 is a classical guitar with a spruce top and CSA rosewood back and sides, crack-free, with a striking set of rosewood; the Mela Guitar Quartet plays Frank Bridge on four José Ramírez guitars in the video above.

A 2004 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. This is a guitar of the early Amalia Ramírez years, made in the Calle de la Paz workshop that she has directed since 2000.

The Ramírez "1a": Primera Quality

First class – "primera", or "1a" – is the designation of the standard Ramírez concert guitar, and it means top quality in workmanship, detail and choice of wood. The Tradicional goes back to the classic concert guitar of José Ramírez III, with the standard 650mm string length and an easy neck angle. For attention to detail, quality of construction and sound, we rate this instrument very highly. This one features a particularly striking and beautiful set of rosewood for the back and sides.

Tone, Playability and Label

It has all the color and warmth that we normally associate with a great Ramírez. Although used, it is in crack-free condition, with only some aesthetic wear in the finish. Its label is dated 2004, numbered Y4-138 and signed by Amalia Ramírez.

There is much more about the workshop on our blog – The Ramírez Family: Masters of the Guitar, the family members from Amalia Ramírez back to José I, and some 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.

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.