2007 José Ramírez "Centenario" No. 186 CD/CSAR

This 2007 José Ramírez "Centenario" No. 186 is a classical guitar with a cedar top and CSA rosewood back and sides from Madrid.

From the Ramírez Workshop in Madrid

Over more than half a century the José Ramírez workshop has built guitars for countless professionals – everyone from Segovia to Sting, Sabicas to Chet Atkins and Christopher Parkening to Lee Ritenour. Since 2000 the workshop has been in the hands of Amalia Ramírez, the fifth generation of the family, and this guitar was made in the first decade of her direction.

The Ramírez "Centenario" Model

Named for the family's hundred years of guitar making, the Centenario uses the workshop's finest materials, laid down over many years: its tops are the first pick of the first-class soundboards, and its rosewood is chosen the same way. 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. 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

The sound has great power and beauty, and the guitar is wonderfully easy to play. Thick yet clear, the tone has the warm, moody character that made the Ramírez name famous. This one has a lacquer finish, and the photos show the detailing well. The 2007 label carries No. 186 and the signature of Amalia Ramírez.

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.

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.