Jos茅 Ramirez III 1961
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Jos茅 Ramirez III
1961, Madrid
Top: Spruce
Back & Sides: Rosewood
This guitar was made in the workshop of Ramirez dynasty founder, Jos茅 Ramirez I, and overseen by Jose Ramirez III (1922-1995). Like his great, great uncle, Manuel Ramirez, Jos茅 III employed talented journeymen to build his instruments. Some of the greatest luthiers of the second half of the 20th century trained in the Jos茅 Ramirez workshop, including the maker of this guitar, Paulino Bernab茅 (1932-2007). The guitar is stamped inside on the heel with the luthier鈥檚 stamp, 鈥淧B鈥. Bernab茅 left the Ramirez workshop in 1969 to open his own shop and became one of the most sought after luthiers of the second half of the 20th century.
In the 1960s, Segovia gave up his German Hauser and, with obvious symbolism, began a return to Spain by playing Ramirez guitars, designed for his specific needs, until the end of his life. The increased size and scale of the Segovia-influenced Ramirez guitars, plus the adoption of cedar for the soundboards, are among the design features of the new 鈥1a鈥 model standardized by Jos茅 Ramirez III from the mid-1960s onward. This guitar from 1961 stands at the threshold of that new Ramirez era while holding closely to the old-world Torres-style guitar: short scale (650mm), spruce top and lightness of construction. The guitar鈥檚 sound is dark, but with a sparkling quality that is, in the words of the instrument鈥檚 restorer, luthier Aaron Green, 鈥渋ntoxicating.鈥
Label
Rosette
Front
Side
