Our guitar workshop is back in the spotlight on the radio. Amalia Ramírez, fourth-generation master luthier of the house, gave an interview to Más de Uno Madrid, on Onda Cero, as part of the «El Barrileño» segment. In it, she looks back on 140 years of family history and two episodes that have shaped the international prestige of Guitarras Ramírez: the relationship with Andrés Segovia and the appearance of one of our guitars in the hands of George Harrison, guitarist of The Beatles.
You can listen to the full interview on the Onda Cero website:
👉 Listen to Amalia Ramírez’s interview on Onda Cero
From the Workshop on Calle de la Paz to Segovia’s Hands
The story that links our house to Andrés Segovia dates back to 1912, when a young Segovia, in his early days, walked into the workshop then belonging to Manuel Ramírez. After hearing him play, alongside violin professor José del Hierro, Manuel decided to give him one of his guitars as a gift, captivated by his great talent, and that same instrument, built by Manuel himself, was the one Segovia used in the historic concert at the Ateneo de Madrid. Segovia went on to play it for more than two decades, and today that instrument is held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Years later, in 1963, it was José Ramírez III who built the model we know today as the Segovia, the first instrument built with red cedar. Segovia was captivated by the sound of that instrument and played it for much of his career. As Amalia Ramírez recalls of her father’s legacy:
«Each of these guitars is a tribute to the genius of Andrés Segovia and the vision of my father, José Ramírez III. We are proud to continue this legacy.»
The Day The Beatles Played a Ramírez
The second episode Amalia Ramírez discusses in the interview is, to say the least, remarkable: in 1964, the film A Hard Day’s Night showed George Harrison playing the solos of the song «And I Love Her» on a Ramírez guitar. In some frames, the shop’s characteristic blue label can even be seen inside the guitar’s body. Certainly an anecdote Ramírez carries with pride.
That appearance, completely unexpected for the house at the time, helped the Ramírez name reach audiences who had never before heard of the Spanish classical guitar, and opened a door that over the years would widen to include other names such as Mark Knopfler, Eric Clapton, and Joaquín Sabina.
The Secret of the Unique Ramírez Sound
Beyond the anecdotes, the central part of the interview revolves around the question we’re asked most often by visitors to our workshop: what makes a Ramírez guitar sound different? The answer isn’t a single factor, but the sum of decisions made across five generations: the choice of noble woods aged for decades, varnish left to mature alongside the instrument, and above all, the knowledge passed down from master to master within the same family since 1882. Ramírez has achieved a highly recognizable, characteristic voice — something that is very difficult to achieve.
As Amalia Ramírez herself once explained about another instrument of her own making, whose sound captivated a concert performer:
«The performer was thrilled with the sound of my guitar, its sweetness, its warmth, its balance. But my only merit was building it well; the quality of its sound I owe to the knowledge passed down by my masters (her father and her brother).»
A History That Keeps Sounding
Interviews like this one on Onda Cero help the story of our workshop — and with it, the story of the Spanish guitar — keep reaching new audiences. If you’d like to dive deeper into the history of the model that made Segovia immortal, you can read Amalia Ramírez’s full account of the Segovia model, or discover the rest of our handcrafted guitars made by hand in our Madrid workshop.