c.1930 JULIAN GOMEZ RAMIREZ

A stunning concert model attributed to Julian Gómez Ramírez, made in Paris around 1930, in very good preserved and playable condition.

Gómez Ramírez is one of the great names who have marked the history of classical French lutherie of the 20th century, although this maker, a discreet and scrupulous worker, enjoys a much lesser reputation than some of his successors, notably Robert Bouchet and Daniel Friederich. Nonetheless, he was one of the first luthiers of Spanish descent to settle and practice in France in 1908, his name first appearing in the registers in the early the 1910s. We can therefore consider Gómez Ramírez as being the initiator (alongside his fellow countryman and luthier Agustín Andrés, also established in Paris at the same time) of the Spanish guitar in France, and we must believe that it met with great success: proof of this is the considerable production of Gómez Ramírez, who counted among his clients prestigious names such as Alexandre Lagoya or Ida Presti.

The work of Gómez Ramírez is characterized by instruments of great sobriety, including his most primitive productions of the 1910s which contrast with the fashion of the time, which was still for Spanish guitars with flashy decoration and loaded with mother-of-pearl inlays. Very often, we find this elegant rosette made up simply of concentric circles without any other form of ornamentation. The refinement is also felt in the choice of woods: a beautiful spruce for the soundboard and a splendid rosewood for the back, sides and headstock veneer whose figuring flatters the eye better than any flashy pearl inlay work!

Despite the absence of the luthier’s label, the provenance of this guitar is beyond doubt: in addition to the construction characteristics obviously identical to Gómez Ramírez’s technique, the guitar comes from his workshop estate that was sold off only some years ago – we have no information on the reason why the instrument never left it! In any case, it is a superb testimony to the great era of Parisian classical violin making, and in a way the touchstone for later productions, since Robert Bouchet was notoriously encouraged to launch into the activity of lutherie by Gómez Ramírez! Set up and prepared by us, in perfect playing condition.

Sold in a period hardshell case.