Alvarez information

Stuball48

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Got an eye on 1970s Alvarez Jumbo. The model number is 5052. Checked AGF but could not find any info about this particular model Alvarez. Google reveals a couple for sale but not model 5052.
Anyone here, on LTG, ever owned or have experience with the 5052 70s Alvarez that you can share?
 
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HeyMikey

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I’ve owned a couple more modern Alvarez, primarily for the wider necks, but did look at some of the older ones. Nice guitars for the money. Typically these had a solid top and laminated back and sides. Sound wise I’ve found them to play and project well but the tone was more forward and not as rounded as I’ve come to like. Though some of those older ones might be different.

Thete was variation in the use of model numbers where over time Alvarez changed specs (like Guild) so you need to ask questions about materials and dimensions if certain aspects matter to you. You need to do the typical diligence in checking structural condition as you would any older guitar. If you find a good one it could be a great deal though.
 
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Guildedagain

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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
 
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Stuball48

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Thanks Guildedagain for the excellent information on Alvarez acoustics. And thanks to HeyMikey, also. And Mikey you are correct on the model being 5052. Went back with an eyeglass and it indeed a 5052 not 5062.
The guitar in question is listed in the Atlanta Craigslist. I will be in that area second week in January and may take a look - if guitar still there. If you look at it and want it, buy it, as it will save me money toward my next Bozung (mahogany). Ha
 

dreadnut

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wileypickett

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. . . what's not to like about that?

What's not to like? How 'bout that adjustable saddle?!

If it sounds decent with that saddle, it'll sound 10 times better once you get rid of all that hardware and install a properly fitted bone saddle.

One of my first decent acoustics was a Gibson which came outfitted with this sort of saddle. My luthier removed it (he decribed it as a "rattletrap") filled the slot with matching hardwood, routed a new saddle slot, and installed a bone compensated saddle. What a difference!

Alvarez made some decent guitars. I have one of their baritones, and a jumbo 12-string (good, but not Guild good, but with a nice wide, almost flat fingerboard).

The ones I especially admire are their cedar topped MD series. I found an MD60 at a yard sale for no money years ago and picked it up. It was my first cedar topped guitar and the more I played it the more I liked it. I've since tried other cedar topped guitars (including a couple Taylors and a Timberline) and prefer the Alvarez to all other comers.

You have to know what you're looking at because Alvarez (inexplicably) made guitars with the exact same model designations (MD60, MD65, MD70) with spruce tops and cedar tops. You can pick these up for a song in the used market -- no one collects them or seems to care about them.

Glenn
 

Bonneville88

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Seems I've read before there was a difference between Kazuo Yairi labeled Alvarez and non-Yairi
Alvarez... maybe, maybe not. Look like a cool guitar though.
 

dreadnut

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Almost bought an Alvarez MD-70 a few years back - woulda, coulda, shoulda.
 

adorshki

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Seems I've read before there was a difference between Kazuo Yairi labeled Alvarez and non-Yairi
Alvarez... maybe, maybe not. Look like a cool guitar though.
Thanks to Guildedagain in post #4:

"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

I'd always heard the Alvarez-Yairis were the top-of-the-lines, too.
Interesting that the article mentions "Direct Coupled Bridge".
c4e97a2b1b5a6b21b1de06cabb9eadaa.jpg


but the subject piece has the adjustable saddle. (Not that it claims to be a Yairi or say so on label)
My first flat-top had one of those and it sounded "ok" but the damn thing was metal and kept eating strings at the saddle.
This one's definitely worth checking out, I'd say.
Oh, yeah:
I for one am knocked out by the chrysanthemum inlays on the 'guard.
I'd pick that thing up for a close look just to see if they're real abalone.
I wouldn't expect 'em to be but ya never know.
And not that it would be a deal killer if I "just liked the guitar", although I did reject an Epiphone with bad fake abalone binding a few years back.
It was just tacky looking and not even perfectly fitted like a Guild would be, especially considering it was supposed to be an "upscale" model.
 
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wileypickett

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Thanks for posting this "direct-coupled" ad Adorshki -- interesting!

Alvarez used the same six-string direct-coupled bridge for their 12-string guitars, which meant each of the six bridge pin holes did double duty -- two strings in each hole, secured by one bridge pin.

This meant that when the octave G string broke, as they do with some regularity, you had take off the regular G string to replace the octave string.

But one of the problems this idea would have solved (I assume -- I've never actually played one of these guitars) was with the spacing of the regular and octave string pairs.

Because the strings in the back have to go around the bridge pins in front, you can only get the strings so close together at the bridge. Since you're playing each pair of strings with one finger, the spacing can be problematic for some players, who prefer the strings be closer.

You can always get the string slots in the nut reconfigured to bring the strings closer together at that end. Some players solve the problem at the brdge by sanding the bridge pins flat on one side so the strings aren't separated by the bridge pins in front.

This two-strings-in-one-hole idea would seem to take care of that problem.
 

Stuball48

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This just appeared on my local Craigslist (an Alvarez 5055):

https://boston.craigslist.org/bmw/msg/d/waltham-1977-alvarez-5055-lr-baggs-m80/7041549219.html

Like the 5052, but with maple back and sides? (And way more expensive.) I like the three-piece neck.
That is a beautiful guitar WP. My problem is whether or not to venture away for a guitar that may or may not get my money back should I decide to sell.
Still, the Alvarez 5052, on Atlanta's Craigslist, will be hard to pass up (should it look as good in person and play as well as stated).It may be long gone when I make the trip down. when I go down.
 
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Got an eye on 1970s Alvarez Jumbo. The model number is 5052. Checked AGF but could not find any info about this particular model Alvarez. Google reveals a couple for sale but not model 5052.
Anyone here, on LTG, ever owned or have experience with the 5052 70s Alvarez that you can share?
View attachment 7970
Got an eye on 1970s Alvarez Jumbo. The model number is 5052. Checked AGF but could not find any info about this particular model Alvarez. Google reveals a couple for sale but not model 5052.
Anyone here, on LTG, ever owned or have experience with the 5052 70s Alvarez that you can share?
I found this 1973 5052 in a local pawn shop. After discovering there was some significance to the guitar, I took it to a shop here in St Pete ( They do warranty work for Martin and Taylor so I knew they would be true Luthiers. ) sales guy told me it wasn’t worth investing a lot of money into bc Id never get it back....probably correct.
He asked one of the Luthier from the shop to come look at it, his 1st words were “Oh Wow”......anyway, I’m sinking lil more $ in it, getting a brace glued back down. Overall it’s in great shape and a real beauty.
0523830B-C9AE-44AA-861D-BFE8477EF885.jpeg
 
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Stuball48

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Beautiful guitar and bet time will tell you it was money well spent. Enjoy!!
 
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Beautiful guitar and bet time will tell you it was money well spent. Enjoy!!
We shall see, I have $350 in it now with expected repairs of $200. I probably could’ve bought new and got the same or better quality for $500 but the history has value to me as well.
 
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