Alvarez 5031

Solid spruce top, mahoganey back/sides, rosewood fretboard. Tasteful "A" on headstock. The fretboard has a nice design at 12 but is otherwise plain. Nice "vintage" color. It's a good looking guitar.

I own a high end Martin so I have to reasonable, so I'll give a 6, but if you were just comparing instruments in this price range I'd give it a 9 or 10. Mine has improved with age. Nice full sound, bright highs. Mid-range is a tad week but overall it sounds very nice. My brother and I were screwing around one day and posted this, I'm playing the 5031 on right:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vwgJxcSPvA

I can't say Martins or Taylors I've played PLAY a whole lot better. The action is excellent, neck feels very nice. Rosewood generally is not as fast as ebony, but I still love to play her.

I've had it for 7 years now and it keeps getting better with age. I've bumped into hard coffee tables, doorways, and counters. There are nicks, be no problems.

I think this is a discontinued model, I've never had the need to contact customer service.

I was tempted to sell this guitar when I bought my "dream" Martin. For some reason, I don't think people are buying these for more than $250-$300, and there is no way I'd part with this guitar for less than $500. It is a GREAT beginners guitar, and a suitable backup for a experienced player.

This is the classical version. The date is 2-1-76 and the serial number is 51317. All original except the nut may have been changed becuase it did not fit right, I fixed it. The rosette is very nice and overall the guitar has very little wear. Big sound out of a small box.
I just purchased this from a music teacher who had it for 30 years. Spruce top, rosewood back and sides. Excellent condition with minor scratches on the back. Neck looks like mahoghany. Came with original hardshell case.

I'm more of a blues/rock player although I've played all styles over the years except classical. I'm thinking the wide fret board will help me develop better fingering for jazz chords. It has a nice mellow aged tone. Tap tested and seems very intact.

The action was a little high due to the nut being set wrong and the neck has a slight rise from the shoulders rising due to the age. The neck itself it dead on straight. Just dropped the bridge a little and its a eprfect setup. The overall finish is very clean, just needed to be polished now it looks about 90% of new. Tuners work great ... no tight spots. The fret ends are protruding slightly out the sides in a few spots, but not enough to bother me. About .005".

Definately will get some use from me. It lasted over 30 years and I think has a lot of life left in her.

On a guitar this old?

I am very happy with this guitar especially at the price I paid. IF you can get one for under $500 buy it. Don;t have a similar guitar to compare it too, but the ones at the local shop don't ave the tone in the under $1000 price range.

Sunburst Spruce Top with Birdseye Maple Sides and Back. The top is a two piece laminate, but looking at the grain on the inside of the back it appears to be solid birdseye maple. Nice finish, looks like some of the older Gibson guitars. Plain old Martin style dreadnought, nothing flashy about that. This is any early 80's model guitar. I think Alvarez actually made this guitar a couple of different times.

I play a little bit of country, christian, and some rock. I bought this just to kick around with so I didn't have to get my better guitars out for garage jams every week. Just fine for that. Pretty balanced tone. A little fret buzz, but changed the strings and a small truss rod adjustment seems to have helped. Doesn't have as much volume as my other Alvarez but close to that of my Takemine.

I don't no about factory setup, it was over 20 years old when I bought it. Really in pretty decent shape for a quitar that looks like it has been worked hard.

Seems to be a pretty durable guitar. I play pretty hard at times and it seems to stay in tune. It wouldn't be my first choice to use on stage, but I could use it if I needed to.

Never contacted.

I have been playing for 15 years. This guitar is just something to play around the house. Not a performance model. Would be good for a beginner looking for a decent sounding guitar and not wanting to pay a lot for it.

Alvarez acoustic model 5031. Plain old Martin-style dreadnought acoustic guitar. I think they're made by St. Louis Music in Missouri, or maybe they're just distributed there, I'm not sure. Mine was made in 1997. According to what little information I can find, these guitars are/were cataloged as part of the "Timberline" series, but the sticker inside says "Professional". It has mahogony back and sides, a solid spruce top, rosewood fretboard and bridge, gold plated tuners, and a typical gloss finish. It has the mirrored "A" logo perloid inlay in the headstock and 12th fret, no other fret markers except for side dots. It's got abalone around the sound hole, and white binding around the body. When you look at the spruce top there are small lines of flame from side to side, but it's far from being a flame top. Not bad for a cheap guitar. Original tag was $490., I got it at a discount for $329. because it had been in the store for a year. No case, so I bought a hard shell case separately.

Great solid sound, well balanced, nice lows and highs. Not too bassy and not too tinny like Fender's $300. acoustic guitars seem to be. Sounds better than Yamaha's (Yamaha makes good acoustic's, but I find them stiff sounding and don't like the flat fingerboards). I wouldn't say the tone here is bubbling with overtones or as rich sounding as say, a Gibson Hummingbird or a Taylor, but for a sub-$500. guitar, it's the best bang for the buck. I'd say it's a guitar for semi-pro's, definately not a beginner's model. After 6 years, the tone is opening up nicely. It records nicely, and anyone I let play it comments on how good it sounds.

The plastic/composite nut was cut perfectly, but I believe I lowered the bridge a bit to get the action down when I first bought it. The back of the neck has a slight V-shape mostly toward the headstock, and the fretboard radius seems similar to a Martin or Gibson- I'm guessing about a 12" radius. The neck is not too fat or too thin (feels better than most of my electrics, actually). The truss rod gets adjusted twice a year and sets the neck up nice and straight the way I like it. The fret work is very nice, but not stellar since there is some slight buzzing on the high E around the 12th fret- nothing a decent grind and polish couldn't fix. I don't see any flaws on the guitar really. It's just a simple but very nice guitar to own and have around the house. Perfect for playing at home, in clubs, at camp, at the park, and definately deserves to be taken care of.

I've taken good care of the guitar since I bought it, where temperature and humidity are concerned. I pulled it out of it's case last Spring and noticed some cracking on the sides of the heel where the neck joins the body. I took it to a local music store and they told me it was normal for some of the finish to crack, and that it wasn't the wood separating. Pretty solid to me then. Speaking of the gloss finish, it's not the thickest finsih I've seen and it could have been buffed a bit more from the factory, but I don't care much about that.

Been playing for 25 years this month. I use Les Paul's and Strats and play in a rock band. I've had a couple of Alvarez acoustics over the years and prefer them to a lot of other brands. The most I've spent was about $500. and many of them sound very nice. You do have to pick through a bunch to get a nice one- I've seen some crappy ones as well, and you need to check the sticker in the soundhole carefully to make sure you're not getting a factory "second". Ultimately I'd like to own a Martin D-28 or a Gibson Hummingbird, but those are WAY too pricey for the small amount of use I give to acoustics. This Alvarez was a great buy, and I always recommend Alvarez acoustics to anyone who asks because they can sound quite a bit beter than the comparable Yamaha, Fender, Epiphone, etc. lines that are begging for your $350.