Ramirez guitar labels
 

Can anyone explain the difference between these two Ramirez guitar labels, both in 'Student' model guitars, both made in the 70's ?

https://i.imgur.com/JGTKNDhl.jpg


https://i.imgur.com/lSROERll.jpg

Ramirez
 

See below response.

Labels
 

Well one is in white and the other is Blue.;)

According to info that used to be on the Ramirez site (you'll have to find a cached version now), both labels were introduced around 1957.

The round labels were the low end student and "tourist" models, outsourced to a number of shops. "Rondalla" refers to a group of plucked string musicians, often associated with folk or street music. To add to the confusion, Ramirez still occasionally uses this label, the George Harrison tribute model being a recent example. In that case, the label is representative of what was in Harrison's inexpensive Ramirez back in the day.

The rectangular Guitarras de Estudio also indicates an outsourced factory/workshop guitar, but generally higher quality than the round label. These were produced by Alhambra, Raimundo, and a few other well-known workshops.

Thank you, this is just the kind of info I'd hoped would surface. And your comments are completely born out by the guitars themselves. Are the present day Ramirez guitars like the 2CWE any good ? And Alhambra and Raimundo branded guitars ?

As info, the Internet Archive's Wayback machine caches the entire web. https://archive.org/web/

It's all pretty subjective, but there is nothing wrong with any of the guitars you mentioned. If you're looking at the $1000 range, my personal opinion is that you'll get more for your dollar if you don't worry too much about the name brand. Ramirez still seems to fetch a premium based on name recognition, largely associated with Segovia's use of their guitars during a large portion of his later career. There is an overall "made in Spain" mystique that persists, but there are fine classical guitars being built worldwide these days. Kenny Hill brought people's attention to the Paracho, MX builders, though he has shifted to China, as has Cordoba for some of their models.

For $1000, you will likely get a Ramirez student model with a solid top and laminated back/sides, built in one of their contracted factories. For that price range, you can also get something like the Alhambra 7P, all solid woods. You could also get a Marlon Navarro with all solid woods. My opinion again is that the Navarro will be more responsive, with a lighter build and finish, than either of the other two. There are also plenty of vintage Japanese guitars in this price range that were built in the style of the Ramirez 1A if that's the look and feel you're after.