Our workshop has a great history and maintains the essence of its origins. That is why today we want to show you the structure of the Ramírez Guitars workshop.
Would you like to know how our guitars are made? Stay and read our article, we will show you everything you need to know below!
Artisan workshop from the end of the 19th century
Our workshop is set at the end of the 19th century, which means that we have the same structure as the artisan workshops of that time.
Here you start as an apprentice, and your job is to carry out small processes to help the first journeymen and learn how to use the tool. Once you have mastered the tool, you move on to the next step, which would be the second journeyman, helping the first journeyman to do more complicated jobs.
Then comes the first mate, who controls every single step of guitar building and is the one who has made the guitar completely perfect. To become a first mate, he has to pass the master’s exam, which consists of making 4 perfect guitars. It cannot have any construction or aesthetic defects.
When a first mate wants to become a master, he usually has to become independent and create his own workshop, because he will want to make his own guitar.
Finally, we have the master, in our case it can only be a Ramírez. A master is the one who designs and researches, analyses the different measurements, the different baretajes or the different woods.
The master determines which guitars are going to be made and with what functionality, he knows why the processes are done and he knows what he wants to achieve.
Our method of guitar making
We make the guitars 4 at a time and it takes us approximately 3 months to make these guitars. We build the guitars 4 by 4 because there is a very important part of the process, which is the gluing. The gluing takes some time and, in the meantime, we have to continue working.
Finally, we come from the old association of violin makers, guitar makers and string makers of Madrid, which was created in 1761. Thus, most of the most important guitar makers in Madrid have come from our workshops.
We leave you a video where Cristina Ramírez explains the structure of our workshop:
