Alvarez 5220CEQ Artist Fusion Electric Acoustic

Nothing special. Simple bass, mid, treble equaliser. Cut-away. 20 frets. Not overly impressive electonics. Good quality machine heads.

Sound is brilliant. Never will you hear such warm and resounding open chords. It's a strummers dream. Also plays classical stuff well. Not so good for lead, but that's what electric guitars are for.
I mostly use it as just an accoustic. When you plug it in it loses some of it's charm. Maybe poor quality electrics inside (though it could just be my rubbish amp - 15W practice thing).

I don't know what the previous owner did to it, but i bought it with substantial warping around the sound hole. As far as I know this hasn't affected the sound though. I think the warping has gotten a little worse since I got it about 6 months back (maybe the brace has fallen out of it like this other guys - heck maybe it IS this other guys).
Also there is a lot of buzz off the 13th fret, probabley something to do with the warping. Could easily be fixed with a bit of filing. The rest of the frets are fine though.
Another niggling problem is that the electrics box on the outside (with the equaliser) comes loose every so often. Then it will resonate with certain notes and buzz nastily, and I have to tighten it up again with a screwdriver.
Nice action (so many accoustics want to eat your fingers away - not this one)
The finish is o..k.. (mine is sunbust). Revolting pick guard though.

Seems pretty robust. Taken it all round New Zealand in a soft case, no trouble. On the beach, sand in electrics, still fine.
It will never quit on you. Holds it's tuning well, and the battries last ages in it - so far I have used just one.

Dunno.

Been playing for about 4 years. Seen many accoustics in my travels. This one sounds better and plays easier than practically all of them. Plus it has a few electrics in there as a bonus, so you can plug in and bash away should you feel the urge.
I would be well pissed if someone stole it. It has sentimental value, and I have no idea where I could get another of the same model.
When I chose this guitar I went for sound quality alone, and am very pleased with my choice (even though it doesn't look great).
The more I play it the more it grows on me. If you see one for less than #100, I reckon you won't be disappointed - but then there are some wierdos out there.

Beautiful guitar. Electronics are amazing out of the box. Batteries last forever! Sound does tend to die when batteries are low, but slap in a new one and you're set to go! I love the action on it- nice and low for fast and hard strumming. The neck is straight enough to take the low action, but I can't put light strings on it or it'll buzz.

I play a lot of styles, and this guitar suits them all well. The only problem that I've had is that it's pretty bassy and tends to feed back if the bass is turned up much on the electronic eq. 3 band eq and contour lets me dial in whatever sound I want.

As I already mentioned, the action is perfect for me- I play all over the neck and in a variety of tunings, and the guitar lets me play fast or slow wherever I want. As the previous guy mentioned, the bridge does kind of set back leaning towands the neck, but it's never really bothered me. All of the flaws in this baby I've put there myself from being stupid (put the guitar back in the case without opening the lid all the way and scratched the crud out of a 4 inch section of finish). As for the electronics, the battery attachment (where you plug in the battery) actually broke- the wire pulled out- as I tried to change the battery- but that's an easy fix... I just haven't gotten around to it yet- being held in place by electrical tape for the moment.

This baby is incredible. It's taken SO much crap from me (like being thrown across the room into the case when my recently bought Marshall crapped out on me)... yet still plays like a dream. It's got its share of glitches and such, but that keeps life interesting and I'd still use this thing (as I have for years) without a backup.

No dealings

By far the best piece of equipment I've ever owned- beating out all of the Fender, Peavey, Roland, and Marshall amps I've owned and my Stratocaster... It's taking me forever to find an electric that feels as great as my Alvarez.

Same as BELOW, but let me add a few things.
It's a laminate top.
Nice double-A Alvarez logo on headstock.
1/4" jack located on "bottom." In other words, on the side, pointing toward the ground if you're playing it.
SMALLER THAN STANDARD SOUNDHOLE.
Black pickguard.

This was my first acoustic (I won't count the cheapie that I bought in Korea for $100 and left in Bangladesh after working there for a year as a music teacher!), purchased about 5 years ago (1994). It sounded great in the store, and it sounded great for the next 4 years. Nice and bright but with good bottom sound... and what a great plugged-in tone! I led worship for many a church service with that Alvarez. The bright sound I kept getting from this box made the Martins I tried out in the stores sound really dull (though I know that the Martins have a "rich" sound... don't spam me now. It's just that the Alvarez was really bright!).
Unfortunately, it didn't last. Maybe it's my heavy-handed playing style (I had to pack at least 2 extra sets of strings with about 4 or 5 G-strings all the time!), but a piece of bracing fell out about 6 months ago, and it hasn't been the same since. *sigh* I'm in the market for an Ovation now... I'm always plugged in... and I'll get my nice Taylor or custom-made acoustic beauty later.
After the chunk of bracing fell out, the sound went dull. R.I.P.
The only other problem has been that the frets have really worn down over the years, and I was getting major buzz from the high E. That's all.

Well, I had a lot of saddle problems from day one. It never sat straight up, always leaning toward the neck. Good thing that it didn't seem to take away from the piezo pickup, but it always annoyed me.
I don't know if the fret wear was inevitable, or if it reflects on the Made in Korea quality of this thing.
The shop had to order brand-new electronics a week after I bought it. Can't remember what the problem was... I think it was kicking in and out.
HERE'S SOMETHING IMPORTANT THAT THE OTHER REVIEWER BELOW DIDN'T MENTION!!! The soundhole is NOT a standard size soundhole!!! It's smaller than normal. I bought a "feedback buster" rubber thing but it didn't fit.

This sucker's been dropped many, many times (probably explains the chunk of bracing!), but it kept on truckin' until the fateful loss of bracing. When the bracing fell out, I saw some warping on the top below the bridge area.
Also, as mentioned before: a lot of fret wear... cracking here and there (possibly from being dropped... HA!)... I broke a lot of strings on this puppy.

As mentioned, I had the electronics shipped back to Alvarez. Problem solved in 2 weeks... TWO WEEKS? I guess that's okay.

This was my only guitar for like 5 years, before I bought my Strat, and before I buy my future Ovation. I basically learned to play on this guy, and I'll never let it go. Maybe I can get the bracing fixed. Nahhh.....
I'll probably never buy another Alvarez, unless I see a nice Alvarez Yairi (I was a poor college student when I bought this one... I ain't either one anymore!) that I like. Doubtful though... I'm looking for a jumbo w/cutaway (like Taylor 815C). This guitar has served God and me well by being a great instrument for as long as it's lasted. Moses didn't live forever either!
What did you expect for a $450 guitar (sale price)? If it was stolen or lost, I'd be really pissed off... then I'd be glad to have the opportunity to go buy something else!