[Nik]

Well, I got tired of scouring ebay seeking an Ibby 7, so I decided I should just get a nice, cheaper 6 string and save some dough for future purchases.

I finally found a store in town that sells Alvarez guitars. They had only one with a cutaway, and I knew that was the one I had to have. So let me share my thoughts on this baby. Oh, and of course, there's the mandatory .mp3 at the bottom of the page Nothing special, just a quick tone test I did to see how good of a direct-recorded sound I could get.

Anyway, here we go:

THE GUITAR:
------------------------

The guitar is an Alvarez model RF20SC. Design-wise, it's what I would consider the perfect 6-string accoustic: accoustic-electric with a cutaway for easy high-fret access. Oh, and the angled headstock is nice, too.

For a guitar in the $300 range, this baby has one of the most gorgeous finishes I have ever seen. You really have to see the spruce top up close in-person to appreciate the rich grain and beautiful polish. The back of the guitar is equally beautiful, such a deep reddish-brown that it almost seems to glow. The guitar is lined with some very clean binding and tiny fret markers remniscent of my RG1527 prestiege. There are absolutely no flaws in the finish except for a weird "thing" where the neck meets the body that I'm not sure how to describte, but I'm sure this could be cleaned up.

FUNCTIONALITY/PLAYABILITY:
------------------------------
The action on this guitar is pretty good for an accoustic, although the bridge could probably be sanded down a bit and the action lowered a tiny bit more. I might look into this further down the line since I got a coupon for luthier services at the shop where I bought it, although for the moment, I am content as-is.

The tuners feel pretty solid, although a couple of hours of hardcore playing are enough to put it out of tune. I can be a bit of a harsh player and play pretty hard when I get into a song, so I suppose that is understandable. The tuners don't feel quite as solid and smooth as the tuners on my RG7, although they don't have any issues like my old Squier, so they are decent.

Intonation is pretty much spot on, and thanks to the cutaway, everything up to the 17th fret is pretty easily accessible. The guitar simply feels great. The neck is considerably fatter than my RG7 and even my 6-string Squier, but not to a point that it becomes a discomfort. Then again, I've never had any problems switching between guitars with various neck widths, so this is a complete non-issue for me. There are some picky people out there, though...

The built in tuner works pretty good, though I prefer to use the tuner on my PodXT for fine tuning and getthing the pitch spot-on. The built in EQ settings feature volume, bass, and treble. There is no Mids control.

THE SOUND:
----------------
Well, I'm no expert, but this thing sounds amazing. Other accoustics I've tried include everything from Yamahas to Ovations to high-end Taylors, and this guitar easily beats out all of them except for the Taylors (and not by that much). I mean, the Taylors were perfect in every way, but they also cost 8 to 10 times as much as this guitar so the truly is no comparision. This guitar does have a very sweet tone and it projects really well.

Plugged in, it produces typical piezo tone, so no surprises there. With the accoustic piezo model on my PodXT, though, I can get a slightly better tone. This is how the clip was recorded.

CONCLUSION:
---------------
Alvarez accoustics kick ass; if you need a cheap accoustic to fulfill your needs, go for these guys. Their guitars can easily be sold for twice the price they are going for.

CONS: Made in China, no 7-string models...
PROS: Doesn't feel/sound/look as if it was made in China, great value

And the clip (remember, quick tone test, direct-recorded ):

http://home.comcast.net/~petsev/socbt1.mp3

[Ancestor]

Hey, man, nice song. To be honest, your playing is more interesting than the tone. But the tone is really good.

[Dive-Baum]

You did a great job on the song. I love Alvarez Accoustics. I have an electric accoustic myself. I bought it years ago. I agree, they sound like they should cost much more than they do. I actually have a 12 string that I only use 6 on. I love the wide fretboard (big hands). How many tracks did you use on that recording?

[Nik]

Thanks for the comments guys. Ancestor-the tone is as good as I could get it. For plugged-in tone, I think it's pretty decent. It can't compare with mic-ed tone, I suppose, but it has it's own flavor.

Originally Posted by Dive-Baum

You did a great job on the song. I love Alvarez Accoustics. I have an electric accoustic myself. I bought it years ago. I agree, they sound like they should cost much more than they do. I actually have a 12 string that I only use 6 on. I love the wide fretboard (big hands). How many tracks did you use on that recording?

Ah, I think they make some nice classicals.

The song generally has 3 tracks-one panned left playing the main melody, one panned right that plays the chords (these switch out) and a 3rd solo track that is either an improvised solo or harmonizes the melody in some way.

For those who didn't recognize it, that was a flamenco-nized cover of Dream Theater's "Stream of Consciousness". I'll post a full, finalized 10 minute version with real drums in a couple of days

[Bregaladar]

Originally Posted by Nik

For those who didn't recognize it, that was a flamenco-nized cover of Dream Theater's "Stream of Consciousness". I'll post a full, finalized 10 minute version with real drums in a couple of days

AH HA! I knew I recognized that, but couldn't figure out from where.

Alvarez are great, I may be getting a PD100S for my birthday in a month

[Nik]

Originally Posted by Bregaladar

AH HA! I knew I recognized that, but couldn't figure out from where.

Alvarez are great, I may be getting a PD100S for my birthday in a month

It's a good sign you didn't recognize it at first-I want to change this baby up as much as possible.

I'll hopefully finish recording by Wednesday, then it's on to improv jams and recording da album

[Metal Ken]

Alvarez are probably the best acoustics you can get for the money.
That said, the only high end acoustic i'd ever want would be a Yairi series alvarez.

[Michael]

Great review, it sounds like an awesome guitar.

[Drew]

This kicks the crap out of all of the acoustic simulator clips you've posted trying to get a good acoustic-sounding tone.

And, for a $300 acoustic recorded direct, that's damned good.

What do you have it strung up with?

I have a alvarez nylon and I like it, it has a bit to bright tone for me, but I bought it for 30 dollars second hand so I dont complain.