José Simón Ramírez de Galarreta y Pernias was born in the year 1885. He grew up in his father's shop, and he not only learned the trade from his father, but from journeymen like his uncle Manuel, Enrique García, and Julián Gómez. Besides being a guitar-maker, he was a guitarist, and when he was 20 years old he was hired to go on a two year tour of South America.

He found it very difficult to convince his father to let him accept the contract, but finally he convinced him that two years was not such a long time. However, the tour was prolonged, and the two years turned into almost 20…The group he traveled with had been dissolved so José stayed in Buenos Aires. There he met the girl who later would become his wife, and who had traveled from Spain to Argentina with her family. They had two children, José and Alfredo.

In 1923, he received the news of his father's death, so he returned to Madrid with his family. Two years later he was in charge of the Ramirez workshop on Concepcion Jerónima. He was on the first floor of the store and was assisted by Jesus Martínez. While on the second floor workshop we could find Alfonso Benito and Antonio Gómez as journeymen with Marcelo Barbero, who was still an apprentice at the time. Manuel Rodríguez nicknamed " Marequi" was there applying varnish but not as guitar-maker, which his son Manuel Rodríguez would become later when he entered as an builders apprentice many years after the war.

José Ramírez II was a Maestro recognized for his work, and in 1923 he participated in the Ibero-American Exhibition of Seville where he obtained the Gold Medal. In 1936, due to the many problems that were brought on by the Spanish civil war, he had great difficulty in getting wood and materials for the construction of guitars. The situation lasted a long time; considerably hindering his work. That shortage was the main reason for his discussions with his son José when he became journeymen and began to do experiments.