I have a '76 Alvarez Classical (cedar top likely), a phenomenal guitar, has never put out a bad sound.
Picked it up off CL, lady met me at a Cosco parking lot. It was her son's guitar, he burned his initials inside the back through the soundhole, took the bridge saddle off completely for better action, asking price $40.
I didn't dicker.
Play the Love Story theme on it, and it sounds like no other guitar in the house. I think I have Savarez high tension strings on it.
A lot of older Alvarez guitar are potentially gems.
I've heard a few folks here saying there's something "missing" in an import guitar, but that just may be that extra critical ear that rewards with something missing.
My experience with Japanese guitars has always been 100% the opposite. Usually crazy good to the point of inexplicability. Like why did my laminate top red label Yamaha FG-75 sound so good?
The early MIJ Fender Strats and Teles were the same. Magic.
Another uncanny experience was a beat up most likely hobo owned 70's Yamaki dreadnuts copy of a D28 but really made with better woods... I had my '72 D28 at the time, and I really couldn't deal with the fact that the Yamaki was every bit its equal, so I sold it, but for a really pretty penny.
Then I sold the D28 and bought some Guilds.
Wish I had that Yamaki now, it definitely had a certain magic about it.
"Alvarez Yairi guitars are a\ handmade flagship series, crafted in the Yairi factory in Kani, Japan.[20]Alvarez Yairi have been the guitar of choice for many professional touring musicians including Jerry Garcia, Bob Wier, Ani DiFranco, and Joe Bonamassa.[21]Alvarez Yairi take the name of master luthier Kazuo Yairi(1932-2014) who partnered with St. Louis Music in the late 1960's to bring Alvarez Guitars to the market.[21]Kazuo Yairi inspired many innovations that are still used in Alvarez guitars today, including the Direct Coupled Bridge, careful selection of tonewoods, and manual carving; a practice that he referred to as "listening with your hands".[22]In 2017 the Alvarez team discovered a lost cache of Honduran Mahogany that Kazuo Yairi had purchased and stored on a plot of land near his factory in the mid 1970s.[23]Tonewood that has been naturally seasoning for this amount of time is coveted by luthiers around the world, and this discovery led to the release of the Yairi Honduran line of guitars which debuted in 2018.[23]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvarez_Guitars