Jose Ramirez GH

The GH has Fustero tuners that look stark and austere as if for an inexpensive model, but tune very precisely, smoothly and accurately. The bridge, Brazilian Rosewood, has rounded ends which share lifting stress along a number of the annulars on the soundboard to prevent cracking of the soundboard at the ends of the traditionally square ended bridge. The spruce top has tight annulars - difficult to count how many per inch, and evenly parallel with the midline joint, perfectly bookmatched and straight all the way to the sides - with much lace. The sides and back, Indian Rosewood, are selected from straight grained sections for austere dignity - to avoid vulgarity as befits the classical milieu. Finish over all appears too thick like most Ramirez's for durability but it diminishes the dignified persona of the instrument.

Mine is dated 2004 and given the price range, does not have the sharp transparency of those in the $10,000 range which are made of longer aged woods. The spruce being old growth resonates a hard edge growl at the low ledgers that cuts sharply through lower basses in ensemble. The echo of the high ledgers at the lower bout has a long delay, which may offer some cedar-like protocol among notes, which is lacking in spruce. The tonal characters across the ledgers are various, which may be objectionable to most classical players, but suit my designs.

The action was set high at the factory I suppose on trust that most would shave one millimeter off the saddle. The nut secures the strings firmly which anticipates expressive excursions down the neck by those like John MacLaughlin who have intellectual audacity - lacking in most artists who play classical guitar.

This guitar is made well but would not withstand abuse or negligence. It is a fine instrument, crafted like fine jewelry or formal wear.

I had no reason to contact the factory.

I have been playing a string instrument of my invention that imitates the snore of an elephant along with a Ramirez A1 in manners of no one from an age when flush toilets were inconceivable even by the best minds. I lead an acoustic ensemble that includes a tuba, a banjo, and a percussion section comprising ladders with variously spaced and tonally various rungs.

Solid spruce top, solid Indian rosewood sides and back, ebony fingerboard, lacquer finish, Fustero tuners, Humicase.

A very 'mushy' sounding classical, even though it has a spruce top. There were also many noticeable overtones that were not very pleasant. Volume was very good as was balance from string to string. Just lacks definition and clarity even with differents sets of strings.

The spruce top was uneven, it had been sanded way thinner on the bass side than the treble-the difference along the neck joint was very obvious. The two pieces for the spruce top didn't match that well either. The side rims were not as evenly formed as they should have been, you could notice small humps as you followed the outline with your hand. The fretboard had several non-playing scratch marks as well. Finally, the tuners were not that good either. However, the finish itself was outstanding, too bad the wood work wasn't. Very disappointing for a Ramirez.

The flaw in the top made me wonder if cracks would eventually occur. I am surprised this top was even used at all for a finished product. I wasn't willing to take a chance that this guitar would be fine in the long run and returned it at once.

It sounded like a good deal. A solid wood Ramirez for under $2000. Unfortunately, it had some troubling construction issues, would have needed better tuners, and had a mediocre sound at best. Ramirez 1A guitars are still the pinnacle for classical instruments, but their less expensive models may not always be as stellar. Maybe this was just one bad guitar, but a company with the reputation of Ramirez shouldn't even have one like this getting out to the public.