2005 José Ramírez "1a Tradicional" No. Y5-131 CD/IN

This 2005 José Ramírez "1a Tradicional" No. Y5-131 is a classical guitar with a cedar top and Indian rosewood back and sides; Manuel Toucinho and Xeno Müller II play it in the videos above.

A 2005 Ramírez Concert Guitar

Countless professionals have performed on instruments from the famous José Ramírez workshop over the past half century and more – think of Sting and Segovia, Sabicas and Chet Atkins, or 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.

About the "1a"

"1a" is short for "primera": the first class of the Ramírez range, top quality in workmanship, detail and choice of wood. Built to the classic Ramírez concert design with a standard 650mm scale – hence the code C650 – it pairs the traditional sound with an easy neck angle. It has one of their classic rosettes and purflings, which are absolutely stunning.

Playability and Condition

It has all the color and warmth that we normally associate with a great Ramírez. The neck is slim and comfortable and the action easy – it plays more like the Madrid guitars of the 1950s than many later concert guitars. This guitar is in great condition, with no damage or repairs and only some modest wear in the finish on the body and headstock. Signed by Amalia Ramírez, the label gives the year 2005 and the number Y5-131.

Two Videos

Manuel Toucinho plays Granados's "La Maja de Goya" on this guitar in the first video above, and Xeno Müller II plays Keane's "Somewhere Only We Know" in the second.

For more on Ramírez, be sure to read The Ramírez Family: Masters of the Guitar; meet the family members from Amalia Ramírez back to José I; and for some interesting fact-checking, see our article 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.