Julian Gomez Ramirez, 1930

Before Bouchet, there was Gomez Ramirez. This 1930 guitar is a feather in the hands and a force in the room.

Julian Gomez Ramirez trained in Madrid under José Ramírez I, carried the Madrid school to Paris, and in doing so helped set the entire French school of lutherie in motion. Robert Bouchet owned one of his guitars, and his clients included Ida Presti and Alexandre Lagoya, who both performed and recorded on his instruments. Spend a few minutes with this 1930 Julian Gomez Ramirez and it is easy to hear why.

At just 1,345 grams, with no ornament beyond a stunning set of Brazilian rosewood, it looks almost unassuming out of the case. Then you play a single chord and realize it may well be louder than most of the instruments around it. Set beside other Spanish guitars of the 1920s and early 1930s, Gomez Ramirez's work stands apart for exactly this combination: extremely light, explosive, and immediately responsive.

This is a player's guitar in the purest sense. Gomez Ramirez built some fancier instruments in his time, but plainer ones like this were often the most desired by players, because he was building for musicians who wanted a truly excellent guitar without the decoration. Nearly a hundred years later, it is one of the most exciting guitars from this period we have had the pleasure of playing.

Sound

Play a few notes and the first impression is raw power. The openness in the basses is phenomenal, and the guitar goes from standstill to full throttle in an instant. It recalls the feeling of playing a great Arcángel Fernández, a Domingo Esteso, or the Santos Hernández guitars of this same era, those lightweight Spanish instruments that seem to explode the moment a string is struck.

The trebles are every bit as special. They feel electric and extremely quick, and you can push them hard without the sound breaking up. What surprises is the sustain: for a guitar with this much volume and such a fast response, the upper strings carry beautifully. The guitar answers every articulation you want in Spanish music, and it handles rasgueados in excellent fashion.

The sixth string is a lesson in how these makers worked. It sounds so deep and authoritative that you would expect a very low main air resonance, yet the resonance sits just below A. You get the depth without the low resonance, and the whole instrument, neck included, vibrates strongly under the hands as you play. In those basses you can hear exactly what the great Parisian makers who followed took from Gomez Ramirez; the bass of a fine Bouchet is already here, joined by a preserved Spanish energy in the quickness and response.

In repertoire the guitar reveals a more intimate side as well. Through Tárrega's Prelude No. 11 and Kindgren's I Dream of You it proves expressive, colorful, and highly touch sensitive, able to make the quiet, profound moments of a piece land as powerfully as the loud ones. This is not a guitar you have to work around or wait to open up. It simply makes you want to keep playing.

Playability

For all of that power, the guitar is astonishingly easy to play. The 650 mm scale and 51 mm nut width are standard, and the medium neck is extremely comfortable. The frets have been replaced by an expert who specializes in guitars of this period, and the action is low, set at 3.5 mm on the sixth string and just over 2.5 mm on the first, measured at the twelfth fret. It invites flashy, fast repertoire, such as many of Ida Presti's own compositions, and it is a joy to play.

Beneath the spruce top is a seven fan bracing pattern. The rosette is very simple, a set of concentric rings inspired by the Mirecourt tradition and the early rosettes of Parisian makers such as René Lacôte. That same understated taste carries across the whole guitar. The all wood tie block bridge is simple and elegant, with plenty of break angle and room to adjust the action, and a tasteful purfling frames the body in matching colors.

The back and sides are a fine set of Brazilian rosewood, now nearly a hundred years old, with a warm glow and figuring that flatters the eye far more than any flashy inlay could. Up top sits the classic Julian Gomez Ramirez headstock, a shape that likely owes something to Manuel Ramírez, fitted with its original tuners, still in beautiful condition with a lovely patina and fine engraving.

Specifications

Back & Sides: Brazilian Rosewood
Bracing: Seven fan
Rosette: Simple concentric rings, Mirecourt inspired
Bridge: All wood tie block
Neck: Medium profile
Action: 3.5 mm bass, just over 2.5 mm treble, at the 12th fret
Frets: Replaced by a specialist in guitars of this period
Air Resonance: Just below A
Condition: Excellent for its age, top with no cracks or repairs and one cleated, repaired crack on the back

Julian Gomez Ramirez was born in Madrid in 1879 and died in Paris in 1943. Around the age of thirteen he was apprenticing with the Madrid luthier Agustín Andrés, who would later also work in Paris. By about 1910 Gomez Ramirez was working for José Ramírez I, and although they shared a surname the two were not related. It is also said that he worked for Manuel Ramírez, the maker of one of Andrés Segovia's most famous guitars.

One of the first luthiers of Spanish descent to settle and practice in France, Gomez Ramirez is considered, alongside his countryman Agustín Andrés, an initiator of the Spanish guitar in France. His work met with great success, and his clients included such prestigious names as Ida Presti and Alexandre Lagoya. His guitars are marked by a great sobriety, standing apart from the flashy, mother of pearl laden decoration fashionable in his day, with refinement expressed instead through simple concentric rosettes and beautifully chosen woods.

Though born in Madrid, Gomez Ramirez is largely responsible, along with Agustín Andrés, for inspiring the French school of lutherie. His guitars brought the influence of the Madrid school into Paris, in direct contrast to the smaller nineteenth century romantic instruments that were still popular in the city at the time.

Robert Bouchet met Gomez Ramirez in the 1930s, the very decade this guitar was built. Bouchet regularly visited his workshop and even ordered a guitar from him in 1938. These instruments were the inspiration for Bouchet, who began building late in life in the 1940s and went on to make guitars for Julian Bream, and who in turn inspired a whole generation of luthiers that followed, from Daniel Friederich to Dominique Field and so many others. In that sense this guitar is something of a touchstone for the great era of Parisian classical lutherie that came after it.

Interestingly, this guitar does not carry a label, an unusual detail that may point to it having been one of the maker's own show instruments. Despite the absence of a label, its construction has been cited by several historians of these guitars as unmistakably the work of Julian Gomez Ramirez. Built in 1930 and now approaching a hundred years old, it is in remarkable condition. The top is exceptional, with no cracks and no repaired cracks, which is very rare for a guitar from an era with no air conditioning and little control over heat and humidity. The back has a single repaired crack, properly fixed with a cleat visible from the inside, and the Brazilian rosewood is otherwise in excellent condition.

As with any well loved instrument nearly a century old, you will find small imperfections here and there, some from the workshop itself and some simply from a lifetime of being played, including a little natural warping of the wood along the sides. None of it takes away from what this guitar is. It has been set up and prepared by us and is in excellent playing condition.