José Ramírez I · The Origin
José Ramírez I (1858–1923) founded his workshop at Concepción Jerónima Nº 2 in 1890. El Ancestro was built in 1909 - thirty-three years before La Sanada, the oldest instrument in the Ramírez dynasty arc held in this collection, the oldest Spanish guitar in the archive.
The label carries period exhibition seals confirming El Ancestro was exhibited before the First World War.
Ramírez Dynasty · 1909–1925–1955
El Ancestro (Ramírez I, 1909) · La Sanada (Ramírez II, 1925) · El Varea (Ramírez III, 1955, probable). The collection holds three instruments across the first three generations of the Ramírez dynasty - the most documented maker lineage in Spanish guitar history. El Ancestro is the origin point. The full lineage context is covered in the ANICETO University curriculum.
Instrument Record
| Instrument Name | El Ancestro · The Ancestor |
| Maker | José Ramírez I (1858–1923) · Concepción Jerónima Nº 2, Madrid · Founded 1890 |
| Year | 1909 · Pre-WWI · Period exhibition seals on label |
| School | Madrid · Ramírez dynasty founding generation |
| Type | Flamenca Blanca |
| Top | Spruce · Old-growth |
| Back & Sides | Cypress |
| Label | Construcción de Guitarras y Bandurrias · José Ramírez · Concepción Jerónima Nº 2, Madrid · Period exhibition seals |
| Tuners | Original friction pegs · Light tension strings installed |
| Collection Role | Ramírez Dynasty Origin · Oldest instrument in archive |
Label confirmed. The instrument has been professionally inspected and conserved to museum standard. Interventions are documented and kept to the minimum the instrument requires. Its structural and provenance record is maintained privately under museum archival standard.
Tradition & Use
José Ramírez I is credited in family documentation as a primary developer of the tablao guitar - the larger flamenco configuration built for performance projection. El Ancestro was built fifteen years before his death, at the height of his mature workshop production. It is a pre-WWI instrument - its voice shaped by materials and techniques from before the world changed.
The story of this guitar is in the curriculum.
José Ramírez I, the founding of the Ramírez dynasty, the Concepción Jerónima Nº 2 address, and the tablao guitar are traced in the ANICETO University curriculum, Module 2 · The Makers.
Explore the Curriculum