Ramírez 1a Traditional Professional Model
The concert-grade Ramírez Traditional Professional 1a Model is the “benchmark guitar” for tone and quality for Maestros, performers and Master-Luthiers world-wide.
Considered the Penultimate Concert guitar, the traditional is available in Red Cedar top and by special order in German Spruce top.
We carry this guitar in standard Indian Rosewood back and sides. Plus we offer it in Madagasgar Rosewood back and sides. Unique to this design, the sides are cypress-wood lined to warm up the treble harmonic content. 650 mm is the standard scale length we offer.
History and development of the Traditional model
In 1960, José Ramírez III convinced an long time client, Andrés Segovia to return to performing with Ramírez guitars, something he had done in the past. This resulted in one of the most significant collaborations in modern guitar history.
Ramírez III experimented extensively with varnish, woods, interior bracing design and tone woods; constantly working to find improvements that would conform to Segovia’s demanding concert performance technique.
In 1965, José Ramírez III discovered Red Cedar as a superb tone wood for his guitars. The throaty bass response and huge volume possible with Red Cedar made it an instant success with Segovia. This lead to the almost universal adoption of Red Cedar as the tone-wood most commonly associated with Spanish-made classical guitars.
The 1960s and 70s were a “golden era” for Ramírez Guitars. With José Ramírez III at the helm, classical guitar design evolved rapidly.
The Ramírez concert-grade Professional 1a Model became the benchmark of tone and quality for Maestros and Master-Luthiers world-wide.
Amalia Ramírez began her apprenticeship in 1976 and she built many Professional Series 1a guitars.
As the 1980s progressed, Amalia Ramírez and José Ramírez IV quickly became Master-Luthiers in their own right. In 1988 José Ramírez III retired and the family business passed on to the 4th generation of Ramírez Luthiers.
In 1993, Amalia and José Ramirez restructured the shop, returning to the original outline of a reduced workshop and a limited production. In the summer of 1995, the Ramirez store moved from Concepción Jerónima nº2, to the street of La Paz nº 8, very near the original workshop.
By returning to their roots as a smaller and more intimate workshop, they would enjoy a better quality of life. This change also assured complete quality control over each and every guitar completed in their workshop.
As a tribute to the historic 1960s design that evolved at their father’s workbench and this model formally re-named The Traditional Model.
Amalia Ramírez remains in charge of the entire operation; both as administrator and as the Master Luthier who inspects and signs the label on all of the Professional Series 1a guitars.
As Master Luthier, Amalia Ramírez embodies the spirit and inspiration of the Ramírez workshop. She is a consummate professional in all aspects of her business operations and I often consult with her whenever I have questions about Ramirez.
The Twelfth Fret is proud to be the Canadian representative for the Ramírez Professional 1a Series. Generally we carry 4 to 8 new Professional Series guitars at all times plus a broad selection of the Estudio series guitars described later in this feature.
Base price for the Traditional 1a model starts at $9550 Canadian.
As guitar makers and technicians, we supply a full service for setup, maintenance and restoration of both new and historical, vintage Ramírez guitars. The Luthiers in our workshop routinely do extensive restorations on older, well loved, historic Ramírez guitars.
Grant MacNeill, Pres. The Twelfth Fret
Here is Ed Kopala playing the Ramirez 1a Traditional:
And again, Ed Kopala with the Ramirez 1a Madagascar: