Product: Alpha Musical Instruments W160 Alfesta
Price Paid: 15 (GBP) used
Submitted
09/15/2004
at
03:20am
by
Nick Daisley
Email: ndaisley at aol<dot>com
Features
:
6
An acoustic guitar of approximately '00' size, (do I mean this? it is pretty much 'D' shape but much less deep, being consistently 4" top to bottom) I guess that this was made some time in the early-80s, judged purely on the basis of the darkened and 'crazed' varnish job and other aspects of its condition. The label tells me that Alpha was based at Boxtel, Holland.
It has a solid (spruce?) top, a nicely bookmatched-back of 2nd rate mahogany, what I think is a mahogany fingerboard and good satin-finished neck. tuning heads are individual, unbranded steel ones of decent quality.
I'll need to put a new nut on there since the 1st string is very close to the edge of the fingerboard.
Sound
:
7
This really is a nice-sounding guitar - the lack of physical depth means it doesn't have anything like the punch of a friend's 1968 Martin D-18 (my primary reference point, and perhaps an unfair one) but it gives a bright, clear sound for finger-picking. I have put some fairly light strings on it.
Action, Fit, & Finish
:
7
I am basing an estimate of its age, partly on the state of its action etc. when I received it. I have had to cut down the saddle quite low in order to achieve decent action, and wind the brace rod a bit. The brace rod is accessible from the headstock end, and its cover is off-centre and looks a bit of an after-thought.
Internally it shows evidence of some clumsy gluing, and the wood used throughout is not of the best, but pretty good.
Tuning heads definitely oxidised a bit.
Reliability/Durability
:
8
I think this guitar has faced quite a hard-working life, and has come out as the winner! I would be confident of its solidity for another 20 years but its neck would need re-setting during that time...
The finish is 'crazed' owing to its age, but looks pretty durable. There are a couple of bad scratches which I will endeavour to repair.
Customer Support
:
No Opinion
n/a - would love to know what happened to Alpha Musical Instruments of Boxtel!
Overall Rating
:
8
As with my Dallas-Arbiter submission, this may be more of a historical curiosity than anything else - this is the only guitar from this maker I have ever seen, and I can find absolutely no information about them anywhere. My guess would be that this is the product of a small, short-lived factory which just didn't go anywhere.
Which is a shame, as it is a guitar of pretty good quality, and lovely sound. My primary comparisons in terms of steel-string acoustics are my own tired old Encore with laminated top, and a friend's Martin D-18 vintage 1968 - this one falls in between (!) but definitely on the upper end of the scale.
