Alvarez Yairi DY-84C

This is a 2000 DY-84C and it's incredible. All Yairi's are handmade in Japan and the quality is amazing. This is a 22 fret cutaway dreadnought with Indian rosewood back and sides with a solid spruce top. It has the 600T pickup system which will provide you with many different tones and is one of the best pickup systems I've ever played with. The neck is mahogony with an ebony fretboard. It came with a case that fits the guitar extremely well. This guitar has by far my favorite bridge setup b/c it doesn't pull on the top of the guitar. If you've never seen a yairi bridge, go look at one and I promise you'll fall in love with it.

This guitar provides you with some great tones. It is very well rounded and provides a great balance. The bass is great in this guitar but not so much that it drowns out the mids and highs. I play mostly acoustic rock type stuff and praise and worship and this guitar has never let me down. It blends in with all types of styles.

The action was great when I bought it and I've never had a problem with it. There were no flaws with this guitar and I've had mine for three years now and there are still no flaws. Great guitar!

This guitar withstands live playing like a champ. It stays tuned forever and it just loves to be played. This is a very dependable guitar. I don't gig without a backup b/c thats just not very smart no matter what guitar you have. Between this guitar and my Taylor though, I will never need another guitar.

I've never had to use it.

This is a hand built guitar for an incredible price. The tone and quality is top notch. Well worth looking at for your next purchase. If you are looking for a guitar that is not as well known and used as say martin or taylor but you want the same quality if not better, this is your guitar.

I believe this guitar was manufactured in 2000. I bought it from the sales representatives sample stock while he was at a local Mars promoting Alvarez products. By the way, this is the first guitar I have bought from Mars that was never finger #%^&)$ by every aspiring player that walked through the door! This guitar is from the Tonewood Series of Yairi guitars. Features a cutaway dreadnought body style, beautiful Indiana Rosewood back and sides, a solid Spruce top, scalloped braces, a natural gloss finished body, Rosette Abalone Shell binding, Ebony fingerboard, Snowflake/Cat?s Eye inlay on the fingerboard, gold dye cast tuners, Ebony bridge, direct coupled electronics, the standard System 600T preamp and it came in a very well fitted custom hard case (the nagahyde covered case, not the plastic molded model). The neck has a satin finish, which I prefer over gloss. The fit and finish of these guitars is miles ahead of any comparably priced guitar, bar none! This guitar was so new, everytime I opened the case it made the room smell like a finishing shop in a cabinet company. It took four months for the smell to go away and the wood to start mellowing, another first for me.

I play mostly bluegrass and folk, with lits of fingerpicking, which these guitars are perfect for. I do not own an acoustic amp yet, maybe never will. This guitar is very loud and exhibits a full range of tone. I wouldn't say it is as loud as some Gibsons, and maybe some Martins I have played, but the tone is much more mellow than either of these guitars. I did have an oportunity to play this guitar through a friends Gibson Acoustisonic amp, and the tones were simply amazing (I just can't see buying an amp yet).

The action was set up very well from the factory. First thing I did was to get those dull, lifless Gore strings off of it. I replaced them with Martin 12's and the guitar exhibits much better tonal ranges. I have had to readjust the neck a little for the winter months, but nothing major. The action was very low from the factory and I like it that way. One thing that I found I didn't like, the cord from the amp to the plug was long, as it should be for installation, but the cord banged around inside the body. I just removed the amp and put a wire tie on it to shorted it and stopped the banging.

I believe this guitar will stand up to regular use and survive quite well. The build is very robust! It did not come with a neck strap lug, but this was of no consequence, as I don't play with a strap anyway. I am not afraid to play out with this guitar, just carry extra strings!

I don't know what the warranty period is, didn't even ask, and don't believe I'll ever have to use it.

My other guitar is a Schecter Tempest, this guitar is aibrushed with a red plaid finish and is pictured in the 1998 Schecter catalog (it's a horrible photo). Another worry free guitar which I entend to review soon. I was at Mars looking at high end Gibson acoustics, when I ran into the sales representative from Alvarez. I explained that there were no Alvarez Yairi's, and he produced this DY 84C, which I bought on the spot!