Alvarez 5086

This is a Beautiful guitar which on the the front is a light brown but the top half is a shade darker than the bottom one so it gives it a great look. It is an acoustic electric with two holes at the bottom. I just read the review up there today and I am trying to get with a buddy who has some amps lying around. But on the inside the guitar has the Alvarez label and it shows model number and serial number. There is a red stamp on the label that says "Almost Perfect", There is a tiny blemish on the front but isn't noticeable unless your looking for it. Now I learned how to play on this guitar and it has taken me around two months to be able to just rock out and make the guitar sing. I had a guitar before this and I played that one for 2 months and quit.I did not play for a year until i got this guitar. This guitar has 21 frets. I think that is why I love this guitar so much is because it fits my hand size flawlessly. Now since I am new to the guitar I do not know what kind of wood is in it; so I am trying to figure out how I can tel the difference. The tuners are same as described in an earlier review. It has a Thinline body style I think. This guitar has is a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. It is a very easy player and can do some things I have never heard before.

Awesome Tone.Right now I am still trying to find my music style. I am 18 so I have my entire life to figure out what I like. I am Trying to have my own style where you look at the guitar and think, "how is he making that guitar sound like that." This guitar sounds like no other. I think this guitar has something in the sound that I can not explain but when I can make it appear thats when I know I am truly rockin'. Alright that sounds cheesy as shit; but that's honestly what happens. I have not even began to tap into all of the sounds this guitar can make.

It looks as if this guitar was hand inspected very carefully before it was on the market. It does have that stamp that says "Almost Perfect" on it. There is a tiny smudge or something in the finish but it is not even noticeable.

This guitar is solid. I have had to tune my guitar once. When I got new strings.

This guitar is a work of art. I will keep this guitar with me forever.

my 5086 is cedar top with Koa back and sides (I think). It's a thinner than usual dreadnought size, would be comfortable for most ladies. Bud definitely thicker than a "thinline." I bought it new in the early 80s when my old Ovation was dying of old age. The electronics are stereo...only guitar I've seen like that. Splits the three treble strings from the 3 bass strings. Has two 1/4 plugs for stereo use, or you can have mono with a single cord. Guitar feels nice, plays nice, great action for finger picking, and the stereo opens up some interesting recording options.

The guitar sounds super. And plugged in sounds very good. But it doesn't have a huge voice, so if you were playing unplugged with a banjo a lot, I'd look for a bigger body style...but it's very well balanced.

I like action LOW...but since I've kept it for over 20 years I've had occasion to play with the truss rod a bit and it's always responded and straightened up with a few twists of the old hex wrench.

It was great when I bought it and I didn't touch it for several years.

Like I said, I bought it in the 80s and it's still in use...so its very dependable. I had one of the plastic tuning knobs strip out...I wouldn't have remembered that except I was in the state pen...playing for the prisoners...did a drop tuning and then couldn't get back to concer tuning. I remember asking the guys, "I don't suppose any of you have a screwdriver." That got a big laugh from everyone but the guards. I've taken it on lots of trips where I needed guitar without a backup and other than this little prison incident...no problems.

Didn't need it. To me the best kind of warranty is a well built instrument that doesn't need it....ever.

I've been playin 37 years. Taught lessons about 30 years. I have a taylor 310, a number of washburn guitars 3 -4 I think at the moment. and a surprising old peavey acoustic with solid cedar top that sounds great too. I have lots of recording and pa gear too...the usual stuff for an old player.
If if was lost or stolen, I'd probably just stick to my taylor becuase I doubt I could find another one.
It was such an improvement over my Ovation ac/ele that I didn't even look at guitars for about 8 years...especially sincemy wife was having babies and stuff.
I wish I'd known what the little switch was for...just learned that reading the other article on this guitar. :0)
I wish it'd had a recomendation as to where to put the strap button. I took it to my dentist and got the neck heel exrayed so I was sure not to hit anything vital when I drilled into it. A comment in the owners manual or a recommendatoin as to where to drill a hole for a strap would have been nice. But it's nice to have a friend with an x ray machine too. :-) He seemed to enjoy doing it.
When I was looking for a replacement, I traded in my ovation (last time I traded anything...just sell them and buy with cash) and walked out of the store feeling very good, and I still feel good about the deal. I paid something in the mid 700s in value...only paid about 200 in cash...that was a long time ago. Guitars have improved a LOT in what you can get for you money.

This guitar was made sometime in the mid '80's The body has a cutaway at the 14th fret, and top is 2 piece bookend solid maple the sides and back are Mahogany I think, and it has a skunk stripe binding down the middle of the back. Gold tuners with amber knobs, this is a very good looking guitar! It has a stereo piezo pickup and stereo volume and tone controls, you can send the top 3 strings to one amp and the bottom 3 to another or you can run it mono. I've done some recording with it with in stereo and mixed the two channels! That was a great experience, I put the bass strings through a reverb unit (deep reverb) and the treble strings through a tremelo unit with slight slapback echo on both sides. WOW!!! Then I mixed them down and the sound was fantastic. More on that later... It has two 1/4" output jacks and a switch to go from stereo to mono.

As I stated above, the stereo/mono ability has some great studio possibilities, I haven't found it usefull for live preformance but I could if the need arose, I use it in mono live. Unplugged this guitar has a nice full sound not as nice as my 1970 Guild D-28 but plugged in it sings with great midrange and volune, and has plenty of resonance for recording with a mic if you don't want to plug in to something, it gives it a more natural brightness with a SM57 or 58. I tried recording it in Stereo Bass/Treble strings each to a channel and with a SM58 mic to a third, no effects then mixing them to one track it brought out the fullness of the sound on the middle track then split the bass to right and treble to left,it came out so good it's on my new CD.

This is a great guitar for finger picking. I do tons of finger style, Country, Jazz, Spanish and Latin Jazz some Rock and Blues.

The guitar is finished in a light color Maple top and medium light Mahogany sides. It's in almost perfect condition since it's a Studio guitar and occasional use live, no Bars.

I had it 15 years and it is still solid. No problems yet.

? I can't say whay the company would do, but if I had a problem I could fing a good local tech to fix it.

I have been playing about 40 years, played professional about 20, and have a small collection of classic guitars and amps. I still record with this guitar and have some Movie Soundtrack experience and am working on my originals for a up coming CD to be released next year (I hope) if the record company buys it.

This is one of the guitars I use on my CD and the only acoustic used. You will think it's two or three guitars but it's not. With no Over Dubbing or Punchins, just this one guitar recorded on several tracks at once as well as a Strat, a SG and a Gold Top LP with P-90's and a Fender P-Bass and a couple other guitars.