2009 José Ramírez "2a" No. Y9-057 SP/IN

This 2009 José Ramírez "2a" No. Y9-057 is a classical guitar with a spruce top and Indian rosewood back and sides – the reissued "2a", with a 655mm scale and a 53mm nut, in excellent condition.

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 Reissued "2a"

A few years earlier, the workshop had re-introduced the classic "2a" model, which had been out of production for over two decades. These "2a" guitars follow the classic design originally conceived by José Ramírez III and are identical to the standard "Tradicional" in all ways, except that they use materials that may have minor aesthetic blemishes, such as small knots, or what in Spain are called "cocas" (darker areas of resin concentration in the grain).

Sound, Label and Condition

The tone and workmanship are first-class, and the guitar offers a sound that is on par with the best that the Ramírez workshop has to offer – a professional-level concert guitar with the authentic Ramírez sound, for a new generation of guitarists. Although it was a second-hand guitar, it is in excellent condition, with barely any signs of use. The label, "Clase 2ª" with "C650-A" written beside it, is dated 2009, numbered Y9-057 and signed by Amalia Ramírez. In the video above, the Park Brothers play "Drewries Accordes" on a Ramírez and a De la Chica.

Curious about the family? Our blog has The Ramírez Family: Masters of the Guitar, the whole line from Amalia Ramírez back to José I, and a little fact-checking on the 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.