Alvarez 5005

This is a nice guitar, of exceptional quality for the price range.

One correction to a previous review: The top is solid spruce, not laminated.

I bought mine in 1979, I think, in San Diego. I still love it and play it. I also have an Alhambra 7FC which I purchased more recently. More expensive than the Alvarez, but in a lot of ways, I consider them equals. In other words, if you have an Alvarez 5005, keep it! You have an excellent guitar!

Purchased about 1980 in California for about $350 USD. The label says "hand made" in Japan. I've always wondered if it is perhaps a Yamaha second label.

Nice woods, laminated spruce top, rosewood fingerboard, fret finish is very meticulous. The lacquer color is orange-toned, With good mosaic work. The Ramirez-style headpiece has a cheesey stamped design.

The tuning pegs are fine but can get tight and squeakey without occasional lubrication. Sometimes the nut catches strings slightly (I use D'Addario high tension) resulting in tuning annoyances.

I use it for purely classical study, and I'd call it a very good student guitar. It has a big, bright sound that is still capable of subtlety and nuance. It seems to project well, but I have not used it for performance in large rooms.

My instructors have always commented that it has exceptional sustain, especially in the high registers. No having experience with many other guitars, I really couldn't confirm one way or the other.

The neck of this guitar is thinner than most classicals and I like that, as it seems to permit faster action and higher finger pressure when needed. On the other hand, it is rather different than most other classicals and makes it hard to pick up and play different guitars spontaneously.

I did file down the nut and bridge a bit to bring the strings closer to the fingerboard, and have had no problems with string buzz.

This is an overall tough guitar. I have have bounced it all around the world in 25 years, gone through two hard cases, and it has held up extremely well. I would not only use it without backup, but have many times and it has never let me down.

This guitar was a gift and so I didn't have a choice, but it fit me very well from the start and I nver considered a different guitar. If it were lost or stolen, I would probably buy a different guitar, only becuase I doubt if this instrument is still available, and by god, I deserve a better guitar.