Jose Ramirez 4CWE

Wonderful selection of woods, great lutherie, for this guitar I bought in 1991 in France. Its a 4CWE Marcel DADI model and I know how this great musician was critical about how we should build a guitar ! There are fine colored bindings, the back is beautiful, with small wooden bindings too.
tuners are classical ones, fine and precise, the guitar keeps the right pitch, and the pitch is really sharp and correct.
Anyway, the neck is quite rough and frets never seemed to be really well finished, but it is still comfortable to play.
There is a preamp for electro sound...forget it, in 1990 this kind of device was at it's beginnings, expansive and awfully sounding.
Bought about 1350? in 1991. It was a good bargain. Prices have increased later, due to new electro fits I suppose.

It produces a warm and well balanced sound. Ideal for an elegant flamenco or soft Django like style. Not really suitable for brazilian music because too rich in bass and mediums (Mahogany, solid cedar and thick ebony fingerboard). The sound is powerful, listen to the bass strings, it is rich and deep. You can play loud or soft, it follows your temper. When you play with flamenco fingers attacks, the response is expressive, balanced, both delicate and powerful. Great sustain also, I like the sound of this guitar, but I have to find better strings.
I said forget the plugged sound but I'm on the way to find a good preamp.

The heigh of strings are perfect, no buzz even with a capo and a heavy right hand, but very playable. Good finish, great color, only the frets on ebony are a bit under the general high quality level.

I play for pleasure, no gig. I'm attached to this guitar and I would play more on it if the preamp was better. So it has not been badly treated and that's why the sound seems sometimes to be like "coming out of a new instrument".
Note, the polish has to be handled with care, even if it is really glossy and seems resistant,it is lightely poured on the guitar so the first little stroke will mark it.

no opinion

The acoustic sound is full of personnality and this guitar talks to me !
Because it's expansive, try it a long time before buying it, It is not for every style or every guitarist, but it's worth the price as soon as you've got it in your hands. Be sure. If stolen I won't buy it again 'cause I've not the money at this time, but I would find the spirit of this guitar in every Ramirez, surely.

My Jose Ramirez 4CWE guitar was made in 2004 in Madrid, Spain. It has 19 frets, which is the usual amount for classical guitars, with 12 frets up to the body. It has a solid Western Red Cedar top with a high gloss lacquer finish. The sides and back are solid Indian Rosewood. It comes with a Fishman Pro-Blend pick-up. The narrow neck is made of Spanish Cedar, which makes it very light, and has side position markers. The body style is a full body with cutaway. The bridge style is string-thru body. The tuners are gold-plated Fustero tuners. The fingerboard is Ebony. The 4CWE guitar came with a Humicase, with has custom-made humidifiers built into the case.

I play Mexican folk music and some classical music. I've been learning some Bossa Nova. This guitar has the perfect sound (amplified and acoustic) that I desire. It has a rich sound with great tone color. The bass doesn't overpower the trebles. I use D'Addarrio Pro-Arte nylon strings (hard tension) and they really bring out the sound of the guitar.

The 4CWE has great flamenco-like action but not too low as to create buzzing. The top is perfectly bookmatched with no flaws. The detailing on the guitar is just extraordinary. Just looking on the inside of the guitar, I saw that the Spanish luthiers really took their time to make sure the the set-up was flawless.

The Jose Ramirez Guitar company has been in business since 1882. I have complete confidence in their quality and products. This is my first classical guitar with a cedar-top, so I don't know what it's "life span" will be.

Jose Ramirez guitars are distributed here in the US by Guitar Salon International. They offer a three-year warranty for Ramirez guitars. I doubt I will need to contact them in the future but when I have in the past, they offered excellent customer support. With the Humicase that I received with the 4CWE, it should help keep the guitar at consistent humidity levels to prevent shrinkage and/or expansion.

I've been playing for about five years but I've only recently gotten very serious with classical guitar. The 4CWE guitar is the best classical guitar I've played in a long time. It is very similar to the Ramirez 2CWE guitar (with laminated rosewood sides and back) but instead, it has solid Indian rosewood sides and back. This explains why it costs about $1,000 more than the 2CWE.
If it were stolen, I would have a nervous breakdown! And, I would order another one without hesitation.

I also own a Cordoba RCWE guitar and to be honest, it's not fair for me to compare the two guitars. One is a spruce-topped thin body guitar (RCWE) and the other is a cedar-topped full body guitar (4CWE). I enjoy playing both of them very much.

Even though the Ramirez 4CWE is considered a "guitarra de Estudio" (student guitar), I consider it to be a custom made instrument. I special ordered this guitar and it took 5 MONTHS for delivery. I ordered it because I wanted the very best full body classical guitar with amplification and a cutaway. The retail price for the 4CWE is $4,279.99. I saved $1,480 (35%) by ordering from the Guitar Center.

If you want only the best in classical guitars with "crossover" features, you should consider the Jose Ramirez 4CWE guitar. If you want something that everyone else has, buy a Taylor nylon guitar. If you want a truly handmade and great sounding classical guitar, buy a Jose Ramirez!