José Enrique Ramírez García was born in Madrid in May 1953. He started working as an apprentice in 1971 at and reached the category of journeymen in 1977. He started at the time of the expansion initiated at the beginning of the 60s.

In 1979, he got the recognition of Andrés Segovia since the Maestro chose from among several guitars that the workshop had previously selected and had sent to him. The one constructed by José Enrique was the one chosen. This was a big surprise and especially a big satisfaction for him. His joy was so great that he wrote a great dedication with signature that was stuck beside the label. Mr. Segovia used this guitar until the end of his days, and according to the letters written by Segovia to José Enrique, he used it with great satisfaction. This same guitar was sold at the beginning of 1997, in Japan, for 50.000 US $.

In 1988, he decided to run the family business with his sister Amalia. His idea was to re-define the models that were being built then. In the middle of the 80's, a change had been detected in the taste in sound of some guitarists. On one hand the rich and deep harmonic sound of our guitars was still appreciated, but this new current looked for an instrument with a clearer and more direct sound. He decided to make some modifications in the internal structure of our guitars -like the double sides - always taking as a base the pattern of the sixties. What he got was an instrument that came closer to the new taste, but without completely losing any characteristics of the old ones. It was in 1991 when José Enrique realised this was a mistaken road that he had been taken, and as in many things in life decided it better to undo everything and to start again from the beginning.

He began to build a guitar with all the characteristic sound of the sixties which he named Traditional, and another one which didn't have anything to do with the previous one, one which expressed that clear and direct sound which was the solution for new tendencies. That guitar, after several experiments, was completely defined in 1992, and he denominated the Special.

Today, two lines are built in Ramirez’s workshop. Esencially, José Ramírez IV defined and improved the work done by his father, although he also introduced his own innovations. Besides defining the two lines professional classic guitars, he developed techniques of construction that made thm the most comfortable and easy instruments to play, and also more stable in their assembly thus avoiding in some cases, and reducing in others, the deformations due to the movement of the wood.

Another important chapter is the student guitars that never attracted José Ramírez´s III whose interest was centred exclusively in the professional guitars. In fact, already in the time of José Ramírez I, those guitars, dedicated to beginners, students and people with little purchasing power, were sold in the workshop as an alternative to those made by hand that, naturally, were much more expensive and of a very superior quality. That is to say, the same as now.

José Ramírez I, who had rejected guitars "made in series" had also seen the necessity of selling them in his business. At the beginning he didn't put a label on them, but with time he realized that this was a mistake because a lot of people could come to his shop with complains and he couldn’t prove the guitar was really coming from there. Also, without label, how could he argue with a client's statement? So, finally, he ordered some special labels, different to those he put in the professional models, to be made, and this way ended the problem.

José Ramírez II kept selling student guitars made in series, and more than that: he also designed some student models and he orderd them from the best manufacturer in Valencia. One of those models stayed till the middle of the 70s in the workshop, although already by then, and for many years, models were sold and not designed by Ramírez, but rather they were chosen among the normal production of some factories, always looking for the most acceptable quality as possible. In fact, José Ramírez III, the same as his grandfather, rejected the student guitars, which is why he didn't care about the slow disappearance of those guitars designed by his father. However, José Ramírez IV didn't think this way.

He was very aware of the importance that those guitars could have for beginners and offering the student guitar would bring a guarantee of quality supported by the Ramírez name. His argument was that a beginner shouldn’t necessarily start playing with a professional guitar, and that it was necessary to think of an instrument that, besides being accessible in price,should have good quality and be pleasant to play with. So in 1986 he designed a student line manufactured exclusively for Ramírez with a special selection of wood. This line has been very welcome as a good starting point toward professional use. Later, in the year 91, coinciding with changes in the professional models, José Enrique designed another more economic student line than the previous one, denominated " R ", being based on the insole of the professional pattern C86.