c.1982 Alvarez Model 5040 Dreadnought Guitar

This is a Japanese-made Alvarez 5040 model from '82. Fit, finish, build, and (after setup) playability are all great, and the sound has a nice, even (great for recording), and balanced sort of thing going on. Rosewood fretboard, rosewood bridge (with "half pyramid" style wings like on old Chicago-made parlor guitars), and synthetic nut and saddle. The body is made from incredibly flamed koa wood, but it's laminate.

I picked this guitar up locally and it still had the pickguard-protective film on it! -- though it had been played a little bit, but must've sat fairly "as new" in its case for most of its life. My work on it was a setup though I did do a light fret dressing. It's a good player with a neck that feels halfway between an electric-style thin and a Martin-style thicker type. It's very similar to the newer Martin-made models like D-16s and whatnot.

Just visually, this is an incredibly pretty guitar. Lots of snazz including doubled and tripled binding, pearl position markers and inlays at the 12th fret and headstock, and of course all the fancy flamed koa.

Koa headstock veneer on a mahogany neck. Note the pearl headstock logo.

Just trying to show off the cool tortoise binding.

Check out that back!

Tortoise heel cap, too.

Judging from the reviews online and also my own experience with older Alvarez models -- these are sturdy, well-built guitars, and excellent deals for the money. Even with its laminate top this is a great sounding instrument in the vein of older all-mahogany guitars -- very balanced through the spectrum and with good sustain.

...and it even comes with a hideous yellow-lined original chip case, too.