2017 José Ramírez "1aF 656-A" No. X6-016 SP/CY

This 2017 José Ramírez "1aF 656-A" No. X6-016 is a flamenco guitar with a spruce top and cypress back and sides, with a lovely neck and easy action.

A 2017 Ramírez from Calle de la Paz

The Ramírez workshop, where this guitar was made, has supplied countless professionals over more than half a century: Andrés Segovia and Sabicas, Christopher Parkening and Chet Atkins, Lee Ritenour and even Sting. The workshop moved to Calle de la Paz 8 in 1995; five years later Amalia Ramírez took over from her brother José IV, and she has led it ever since.

A Concert Flamenco

This is the top-of-the-line Ramírez flamenco, suitable for both performance on a concert stage and traditional flamenco playing with dancers and percussionists. It is a very lively instrument with excellent playability and volume, and an authentic Spanish sound with a lot of bite – one of our favorite choices for the serious flamenco guitarist. The F656-A is the spruce-top ("A" for abeto) version of the workshop's 656mm-scale flamenco.

Sound and Condition

With its lovely neck and easy action it is a pleasure to play, and the tone is thick yet clear, with that essential warm, mysterious and moody quality that made Ramírez famous. A hardshell case was included. No. X6-016 is written on the label, which is dated 2017 and signed by Amalia Ramírez, and the model code "F656-A" is written by hand beside the class.

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.