ose Ramirez III apprenticed under his father Jose Ramirez II and guitar builder Alfonso Benito. Jose Ramirez II was not content building to traditional models, and did much research in the area of acoustics. Through his many successful innovations, he established a high demand for his guitars by some of the finest performers. One highly notable innovation was his implementation of western red cedar from North America as a tone wood for the soundboard. The success of western cedar as soundboard wood proved to be one of the most important and significant changes in the history of modern guitar.
During the 1960's, Jose Ramirez III began to introduce the 664mm string length in his guitars. Segovia probably had much to do with this change. The instruments with increased string length were perceived as more powerful and better able to project. To this day longer scale length guitars continue to be preferred by many performers.

Sherry-Brener private collection