2011 José Ramírez "Elite" No. 204 CD/CSAR

This 2011 José Ramírez "Elite" No. 204 is a classical guitar with a cedar top and CSA rosewood back and sides with Rodgers tuners; Alberta Khoury plays Bach in the video above.

The Ramírez Workshop in 2011

Segovia, Sabicas, Christopher Parkening, Chet Atkins, Lee Ritenour, Sting – the list of professionals who have played instruments from the José Ramírez workshop over more than half a century is practically endless. By the time this guitar was built, Amalia Ramírez had been in charge of the workshop for ten years – she succeeded her brother José Ramírez IV in 2000, and she inspects every guitar during and after construction.

About the "Elite" Model

Very few Elites leave the workshop – we are lucky to see one or two a year – so they rarely circulate on the open market. Structurally it is close to the 1a Tradicional, but it is made with the most precious woods stored by earlier generations of the family, and with exquisite workmanship. It has additional detailing in the boxwood head inlay and intricate purfling around the binding and rosette, and the tuners are by Rodgers. This is the Ramírez for the player or collector looking for the best of the best.

Tone, Playability and Label

The cedar top and CSA rosewood give it the warm, deep Ramírez sound, and in the video above Alberta Khoury plays the Prelude of Bach's Lute Suite No. 4. Signed by Amalia Ramírez, the label gives the year 2011 and the number 204.

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.