Alpha Musical Instruments A690

According to the Martin company this guitar was made in the eighties. It was made in Holland in a place called Boxtel. It's a dreadnought modelled after a Martin D28. Solid spruce top, solid rosewood back and sides. 1-piece mahogany neck with a gloss finish, a rosewood bridge and fretboard and some good (made in Germany) tuners. I can't make up what the nut and bridge are made of, but it's not bone: It resembles the material Martin uses on their dreadnoughts. I replaced it with ivory: much, much better!
This guitar has been finished in gloss all the way.
To make things clear to the american guitarplayers who happen to
have a Vega of about the same age in their possesion. These are the same guitars coming from the EGMOND company. When you search for
"Egmond Gitaren" you can find more information, also on the Vega guitars which are of equal quality. Interior workmanship is near perfect: No glue rests are poorly sawn parts there. The bracing is typically Martin. In the alpha series they seem to have built 6 models. I think this is the most expensive one because I had a lot
of mahogany equipped steel (and gut) strings in my hands of this
brand.

The sound is typically Martin and if I have to compare it with the mahogany models this example really shines in its tone:
Huge volume, lots of sustain (after a neck reset which is the weakest
point with these instruments) beautiful balance and tonecolour.
Very bright and carefully reacting to the place where the strings
are strummed. A nice detail: Fingerpicking on a dreadnought is not my
cup of tea but on this example the higher notes are really strong enough compared to the basses. Not boomy.

There seems to be one main complaint about these guitars:
The way they fitted the neck to the body. No joint the way Martin does it with their guitars. Just a wooden plug near the back in the
heel. I have heard too often now that the heel comes off resulting in a very high action and therefore unplayable guitar.
But I should say: Have it repaired because it is rewarding!
On this guitar the twelfth fret did loosen a bit so the high E string
sound muffy at that place. Just a new fret there and the problem is solved. Furthermore I think the wood used for the neck isn't of top quality as I think the neck could have been more stable.

Never used this one live, I use it occasionally for recording though. This guitar will last though for it has been used heavily for the last 20 years and shows no signs of giving up yet!
But I must say: after I made a neck reset.

This guitar was made by the Egmond company that is out of business so no warranty from them. Some Alpha guitars bear the name Marti8n on their label but mine has not got the name Martin on the label.
I know of these different labels in ecxacvtly the same built instruments. Martin told another dutchman some things about the company after requesting some information. They bought the Dutch company in the eighties. It used to be called the Egmond company which produced a lot of guitars under different brands: Vega, Lion, Wilson and Miller, Manhattan, Orpheum and Alpha. That's the company Martin bought. It stopped the production after a couple of years, probably because the Japanese and Korean copies were too competitive for a budget Martin from Holland.

Been playing for about 40 years. Have played in a couple of bands but mostly play classical solo acoustic now. I have a whole range of acoustics made by Martin, Gibson, Ovation, Guild, Levin, Ibanez, Terada and Orozco. My first electric guitar was an EGMOND and though I was a proud owner at that time their quality wasn't that good. I liked the Alpha guitars for using honest materials and the gutstrings can be surprisingly good as well. The steelstrings can be very nice! Because if I have to be honest, Holland is not known for it's factory produced guitars some dutch luthiers are very good!