1969 Ramirez Flamenco Guitar specifications:
- Soundboard: cedar; Back and sides: cypress
- Nut width: 53mm; String length: 656mm
- Concert flamenco guitar (1aF)
- Serial number 3,307
Description:
This is a 1969 Ramirez Flamenco Guitar (1aF). This guitar was once the gig instrument of Gino di Auri, a beloved flamenco guitarist who performed almost weekly in the Los Angeles area. He passed away on January 28, 2008, and I received this guitar on January 28, 2011 which was an unusual coincidence. In another odd story, I had taken the guitar for minor touch ups and inspection to John Levan in Nashville when a tornado hit his shop, tearing the roof off the building and depositing it on the parking lot. John called to tell me that “the guitar had been out, face up, unprotected on his workbench”…”John – please don’t keep me in suspense. What are you trying to tell me?”…”And despite the rain, the winds and the destruction all around, even destroyed guitars in their cases, it remained completely untouched.” The instrument really does have a bit of magic.
The makers mark on the heel inside is P.C., Pedro Contreras, who was highly regarded in the Ramirez workshop. It was he who primarily made the flamencos in the Ramirez shop.
The body of the guitar is in traditional cypress and the soundboard is in cedar, a Ramirez innovation dating to the 1960’s. This innovation was born out of a shortage of aged spruce in those years, and since then cedar has become a mainstay as a soundboard wood for guitars. This guitar comes from the very beginning of this tradition, and it is like hearing the stroke of brilliance of using this tone wood for the very first time. Let this guitar take you back to the source!
Ramirez flamenco guitars were played perhaps most famously by the legendary Sabicas. The tone is immediate, dry, loud, spicy. It transports you straight to Andalusia, the cradle of flamenco.
More information on Ramirez guitars can be found on the Ramirez site. To enquire about this guitar, please go to our Contacts page.
