2004 Alvarez MD60 Dreadnought Guitar

Andy, who's our bowed-family repair-maestro, brought this guitar in for his Dad the other day. He gave it a level/dress job on the frets and then set it up nicely.

It's an MD60 model which, in Alvarez parlance, translates to this guitar -- a cedar-topped dreadnought with mahogany back and sides and restrained (but nice) appointments. I'm a fan of cedar tops on guitars (see: Daion models, see: Seagull models) as they sound dang good (for the most part) right when they're built and have a sound that's on the "atypical" spectrum -- it's familiar but perhaps a little woodier and perhaps not as good at taking huge amounts of energy. They also smell good, of course.

This one has aged gracefully -- it has a few minor dings here and there but overall it's in good shape. The saddle (while low) still has a little room to go on it and, even though it's 20, it's not full of dryness cracks and wear like the average Vermont guitar.

Per the usual for Alvarez, it sizes-out (and has a similar scale length) like a D-18.