Eladio Molina 1862 / Juan da Montagne / Jose Ramirez III Clase 1A 1980 / 1981 / Jose Ramirez II 1945

The label mentions the year 1862 but that was the year

this guitarreros won a gold medal at the Malaga exhibition.

However the adress and other features are pointing towards

an instrument made between 1862 - 1882. This instrument

has most likely been provided with a new soundboard and 

the old fretwork caused fret slots that were too broad. The 

further restaurations possibly could have been done by 

Pablo Requena who lives in London and Amsterdam.

The back of this guitar has developed some inevitable 

cracks during its' lifetime. But still beautiful woods

have been used for this guitar as can be seen here below. 

A cedar neck but surprisingly no inner Spanish heel 

Unmistakenly Brasilian rosewood but the 

more darker variant and not the orangy one.

Wether if this is the original rosette we do not know for sure as

most likely the soundboard has been replaced during an extensive

restauration. The sides and back are typical late 19th century

Brasilian rosewood ones. A five piece fan bracing with two

closing ribs has been placed on the top. And this narrow 

but tasteful rosette completes this instrument.

Brasilian rosewood, rather narrow bridge this luthier

provided his guitars with. Most likely original.

Still some repairs on sides and back have to be done but

absolutely worth the trouble.

This head seems to have been shortened a bit but in

fact was a close copy of the Antonio Lorca heads who was 

his teacher for a while and Molina probably honoured Lorca

in this manner. A lot of Malaga based builders used this 

typical headform that often were provided with peg tuners.

After visiting the Flamenco Museum in Malaga we were

able to compare this instrument with other Malaga made

guitars that were exposed there. 

The label Eladio Molina only must have used after 1862.

This instrument has originally been provided with tuning

pegs as can be seen at the outer ends of the two sleeves.

The tuners on this instrument we have seen on a Juan 

Estruch guitar from about 1920 so the tuners must be

quite old themselves.

Some beautiful pictures of the woods used. Extra ordinary

detail is that the outer heel and neck are made from one

(same) piece of wood. And probably the head shared this

process but the repair makes it difficult to conclude.

This guitar has a romantic and vibrant sound with lots

of colours in it. Still a delight to listen to and play!

Instruments from this luthier prove to be quite scarce!

Juan da Montagne

This is most likely ment as a flamenco guitar regarding the cypress

back and sides. Though for a flamenco guitar quite heavy, I'm always

triggered in how such a guitar sounds for the classical guitar pieces

of Spanish composers. It has to be repaired at first as the head is

showing a crack. This looks more severe to non-luthiers as even a 

broken head can be fixed satisfactory. This guitar has been built

with a traditional 7 fan Torres bracing and no closing ribs.

Ebony fingerboard and bridge. The scale is 650 mm.

Nice pieces of figured cypress have been used for the back 

and also a lot of attention was dedicated to the bindings.

Typical for a real flamenco model the soundbox is less deep

than compared to a classical model. Jan van den Heuvel

was able to buy his woods in Germany as the Egmond

(Alpha) company had good contacts there. Scale 65 cm.

On this picture you are able to see the bindings better and

also the "reinforcement" layer in the neck.

In fact derived from a Torres head as well. Juan da Montagne

(or in Dutch: Jan van den Heuvel) often visited Spain in order

to learn from the famous guitarreros there. In the head itself

the French lily has been engraved also known as the "Fleur de

 Lis". The tuners are most likely from the German factory 

KOLB. Anyway good working and hand engraved and 

they work very well and smooth.

The tuners with, very strange, plastic knobs. But those knobs

made it possible to conclude these tuners to be from Kolbe. As

mostly is the case with cheap plastic buttons: They are showing

a seam. These knobs are an exception, so no seam here!

A very tasteful rosette and an ebony bridge are making

this guitar a very nice instrument. Another feature is the doomed

top what makes it possible to construct with a thinner top

Question remains wether if this instrument has been built for 

the Egmond company for which van den Heuvel was an advisor 

or in his own workshop in Geldrop (The Netherlands).

His son claims this to be from his fathers own workshop.

A close up from the rosette. Regarding the traditional 7 fan bracing of

the top chances are big that Jan van den Heuvel was closely involved

in the design of the Alpha classical guitars that had a serie of 6 models.

These guitars were a big success on the Dutch market but being too

expensive to produce in a workshop with disabled people the selling 

price had to be lower than costs for producing these guitars and that

ment the end for the Alpha guitars and the former Egmond company.

The label says: Juan Reinier da Montagne: Modelo 23F.

Besides that the addition of a number: 701125 and most

likely a signature can be studied in the lower right corner

by clicking on this picture. The first two digits could mean

the year of production: 1970 but I'm not sure yet. All

these features have been added to the label in ink so it

could be as well that this was the 23th instrument van

den Heuvel has produced already moved from Australia

to the Netherlands back again with wife and kids.

The prefix "F" mos likely stands for "Flamenco".

Jan van den Heuvel died 15 years ago (around 2000)

The damage to the headstock has been repaired here and

in order to make things like new I've refinished the whole

neck. The outer ends of the frets were treated with a file 

that damaged the fretboard. Things are now the way they

should be again. This guitar produces a very even sound 

thorough the different frequency registers. Maybe not

the absolute top for which it misses a bit of character but

very well and neatly built and now again ready to serve

a player for probably a lifetime! This example definitely

is better suited for classical music as the sustain resembles

that of a classical guitar and the higher notes are sounding

very "rounded". And not the attack and immediate response

a genuine flamenco model mostly produces.

Jose Ramirez III 1A guitar 1980

This 1980 clase 1A model was built by Enrique

Borreguero who's father was a very fine luthier
as well. Very good condition though the fretwork
was worn out. When placing new frets, the 
fingerboard will be flattened out keeping in mind that 
the upper bass side allways has some give to let the 
lower string vibrate freely. Apart from that the 
action at the bridge can be corrected for optimal
playability and small damages to the fingerboard
itself can be cured.
  

Both sides and back are remarkably straight grained.

Maybe not that attractive but it helps for optimal
stability of the wood regarding cracks in the future.

This guitars; own frequency lies on he note A so

in Hz that would be 110 Herz.
  

This label states that between this example and the following
guitar 400 guitars clase 1A have been constructed at the
Ramirez shop. It was booming business in those days.
Apart from the superb sound, most striking detail in comparison
with most other José Ramirez clase 1A guitars is that the sides
in the soundbox are not strenghtened with a layer of cypress
as was common or even partly covered with a rosewood
layer as can be seen on the Camara models. No, this
guitar has been entirely covered with a rosewood layer from
the inside of its' soundbox. So no solid sides but instead
of cypress, rosewood has been used. This message puzzled
Amalia Ramirez as well though she thinks it to be another
experiment executed by her father José Ramirez III.

José Ramirez III clase 1 A (1981)

This eighties Ramirez guitar has been obtained quite
recently. Though it suffered from some humidity damage
its sound was wonderful. Huge volume and the tonal
qualities are exceptional. Beautiful rounded tone for
all frequency registers. You should listen to the Ramirez
guitar on one of the Andres Segovia Youtube movies:
Andres Segovia demonstrates different timbres of the
guitar. The same sounds!



Though the humidity has caused a crack behind the bridge
that was deformed I had to make a device in order to bent
the sides of the crack back. There was enough wood so
after the operation it could easily be glued together.
To my surprise it had a significant effect on the overall
tone production: Even better! Moreover the action was 

way too high. That has been solved by shaving away the

fingerboard towards the head in order to create another

angle neck / body. A refret job was necessary of course.

For those who are keen on labels: the blue rounded Ramirez 

label is a sign of quality and the eighties Ramirez guitars 

are known for their sweet voice. This one has been made 

by Juan Garcia Ray though it bears the number 6 which

stands for Arturo Sanzano. I recently visited the Ramirez 

workshop in Madrid where they looked it up for me.

Juan Garcia is no longer member of the workstaff.

There is a site where they give you an explanation of all 

initials they used up until 1991. Amalia Ramirez states

 that their best instruments aren't allways built by the best 

craftsmen as the combination of woods, circumstances 

while built and tension between the different parts also 

attribute to the final sound result.

%his list has been public by the Guitar Salon, however

Several luthiers also had just a number for recognition.

Jose Ramirez II guitar (1945)

Presented here is a Jose Ramirez II guitar from 1945.

It is well known there was a shortage of about everything 

just after World War II and the Civil War that ended in 1939.

This example has a spruce top with a seven fan bracing.

Ebonized fingerboard with copper fretwork. Brasilian

rosewood bridge with the well known ornamentation

from that period. Some odd things can be found on

this guitar as it has the bigger Blue / white label normally

found on the higher end student models. But the label

has been signed in blue ink (probably the maker) and

most likely afterwards with "J. Ramirez" done by (???)

Scale length: 650 mm - Length of the body: 477 mm -

Neck width: 50 mm (at top nut) Upper Bout: 255 mm

Waist: 218 mm - Lower bout: 342 mm - Depth: 

Varying from 80 to 90 mm (Bottom)

It is obvious that the soundbox has been built with

Cypress but this guitar lacks the golpeadores found on

a real flamenco guitar. Also the bridge height itself is

that of a classical guitar. This instrument produces a

somewhat dry but sweet and "complete'  sound. Very 

even in all registers. In the book "The Ramirez Collection"

written by Brian Whitehouse there is a sound example

included of a 1946 guitar built by Jose Ramirez III.

This guitar is slightly bigger but has the 50 mm nut

width and a seven fan soundboard strutting as well.

The 1946 guitar has been built with better materials

as on most Ramirez guitars of this time a fairly wide

grained soundboard can be found.

Some people will say: Mahogany veneered but close

inspection learns otherwise: This wood is too fine

grained. The typical head form also found on his

concert models is there and the use of metal rollers

can be a later addition as are the tuners as a whole.

Probably this guitar was fitted with tuning pegs

regarding its' weight. a cedar neck that has been 

executed very good. 

In order to make this instrument playable again I had

to shave the fingerboard a bit towards the head. By

that time it became obvious that the fingerboard had

been ebonized in the past. I matched the color close

to the veneering of the head and placed new frets.

As the original top nut was broken I changed it

with an ivory one and I had to lower it a bit as at

that point the fingerboard had been lowered by

about 2 mm. As the frets are a bit higher now this

guitar plays much better though the width at the

nut could have been a bit more spaced.

I suspect these tuners to be quite old as well. They

still work well but aren't securely mounted. The same 

thing can be said about the restorations on this guitar. 

And the question remains: "are they original" as the

thickness of the head varies. So I think this guitar

originally was provided with pegs. These tuners

gave too much problems so I decided to change them 

as well. Schaller tuners have been added now but

being too long for this guitar another extra move

was necessary: The Lyre had to be removed.

These tuners work very well and the original drilled

holes in the head could be reused again. A must!

A simple but gracefully executed rosette. Jose Ramirez II

however will not be remembered as a Rosette maker. 

Some of his guitars even had Rosettes made out of simple 

concentric circles. We have to remember there was a 

shortage of all kinds of materials. This kind of inlay can

also be found on Ramirez guitars of the thirties and even

the following rosette from a Domingo Esteso guitar from

1930 has some similarities.

As for labels: The site of Guitarrasramirez speaks of

the white / blue label being used in student models only.

However there are several guitars from the thirties and forties

that have the larger blue label but aren't meant to be student 

guitars. It will probably count for the fifties guitars onwards.

A picture of the bigger blue / white label but signed

anyway. In the middle left the name J Ramirez can

be found but this can be a later addition. The fact that

the signature has been placed partly over the label and the 

wood surrounding it confirms this instrument to be a

genuine Jose Ramirez II. James Greenberg from 

Zavaletas guitars who holds an incredibly inventory

of older classical guitars confirms this big signature

to be from Jose Ramirez III. Hopefully Amalia

Ramirez will confirm it as well in the near future.

Around 1945 there weren't that many luthiers at work

in the Ramirez workshop so maybe we can solve the

mystery about who placed it. The top of this guitar

has been mounted with individual blocks and the 7 fans

are quite small in width (4 mm) and height (3 mm).

Also the seam between the two halves of the back have

been glued together with blocks. Besides the label

this guitar has two stamps: Both near the heel block on

the soundboard and back. Most likely a sign that it has 

been built in Madrid and not in Valencia though the

neck to body construction looks quite Valencia!

Amalia Ramirez states that her father sometimes 

signed the older guitars and then stopped for a while. 

After seeing this picture she states that the signature

does not belong to her father (Jose Ramirez III) but

possibly to her grandfather.

As I already explained this is a Valencian type of neck to

body joint. But it is known that Barbero also constructed

the heels this way. The inner heel however looks entirely 

hardwood to me and the form resembles a lot the thirties 

Santos Hernandez heels.

A comment on the bridge has to be made here as the

form as well as the inlays and the mother of pearl covering 

of the stringblock is pointing towards Ricardo Sanchis 

Nacher. These kind of bridges have been seen on other 

Jose Ramirez II guitars of the forties.