Alvarez Abt60 Baritone - has anyone got one? your opinion? :)
 

After just a short time with my Avalon L32C i'm selling it to help some family members who will be struggling this Winter perhaps long into Spring, sad to see it go but i'm glad i at least had some time with it as i'd wanted one for some time. It will i feel be my last Avalon as my next handmade will be something from North America and i have the money for that ready and stashed away but i'd prefer to wait and see how the economy pans out before doing anything with it, things aren't good in the UK atm :(

Anyway i've been having a look about on the classifieds, eBay and some dealers trying to think what guitar i could buy for the meantime, something sub £400 either new or used. Since the money from my Avalon will be going to help my relatives i need to keep the investment in this one to a minimum, i was trying to decide what i could go for and then i remembered the Alvarez Baritone. I want a Jumbo guitar so it ticks that box, it comes in on budget and being a baritone will work great for alternate tunings which i spend most of my time in :) But i would really like to hear from any members who have played or own this model especially how it is for finger style, i've only heard it strummed via youtube vids.

cheers

Don't know the guitar but it looks really nice:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWt_VDHJjQ8

Bravo for helping out your family....lovely gesture selling the Avalon.

They are well worth the asking price. I actually think that they sound better played finger style than they do strummed.
Strummed, they can get muddy.
All in all a great guitar bargain.

I was actually just going to post that I just played the Alvarez Baritone today for the first time. The only one they had in the store was the one with the pickup built in.

I had a really nice, smooth sound, and played very easily. At the price point of the ABT60, it's very tempting as an alternate in the stable. If I could possibly find a used one.....which at this point seems unlikely, it'd be very hard to pass up.

I got one in July. I had never played a baritone and didn't want to drop $1500+ on an experiment so I went for the "cheap" Alvie. I expected a "budget" guitar to play around with. I got a great looking, well finished guitar that has a balanced wonderfully deep voice. The sound is...well...I call it my goosebump guitar. The 27 3/4" scale is longer than Taylor's baritone and more effective. This baritone has radically elevated my opinion of Alvarez guitars. The finish is better than my Taylor mini. The action would be great on a short scale guitar, let alone on this long neck...and I play above fret 15 a lot. Bottom line; I think the ABT-60 is the guitar deal of the decade. My only complaint is that now my fingers are too short again. ;)

Skip the HSC though...looks good but it weighs a TON. If I was ordering again, I'd get the padded gig bag. And I've removed the pickguard since this pic was taken.

http://images5a.snapfish.com/2323232...8%3B4253ot1lsi

I also removed the pick guard on mine. I replaced it with a tortoise Martin type guard.
It looks a lot better to me now.

By the way strings will be a topic that new owners of Baritone guitars will want to discuss.
So far I have only tried the D'Addario Baritone strings that came on the guitar new and a set of Martin Cleartone strings.
I like the Cleartone strings better. They feel softer.
On a recommendation from a forum member, I changed out the second string [F# .020 plain] string for a wound 0.22 string.
I really like the results. The wound second string is a lot easier to fret and the tone is improved IMHO.

I will also try a set of D'Addario heavy PB strings and tune the Baritone C to C one of these days. This will help tighten up the bottom end sound, which can get muddy when strummed.

thanks very much guys :) i'm waiting on a quote from my local music shop to see how much they can order one in for me, i'm hoping it'll be the same as what ive seen online but with a set up and maybe some strings thrown in. I've got a good gig bag i can use for it that they threw in with a guitar a couple years back so that's no problem, my brother could always do with a hard shell case if it came with one.

family comes first, it would just weigh on my mind if i knew i could help by selling it i would feel too selfish if i didn't. I do have the money saved for another handmade guitar so there's that too look forward too but again the economy is pretty bad atm so i'd like too wait and see what happens, perhaps around spring time i'll do something with it :) in the meantime it's baritone all the way! :D

just put a deposit down on one, will be arriving early next month :) Apparently word has gotten out about them after a good revue in a magazine (not sure which one) so they've been flying off the shelves over here, the dealer my local music shop contacted only had six left after a large shipment and they were all spoken for. I know one or two players who'd be interested in this guitar as well so i'm sure they'd be eager to try it out, really looking forward to getting it as a baritone is something i've wanted for a while now :)

If the sound and quality are anything like mine, you won't be disappointed. I do recommend passing on the Alvarez case; very heavy and has fit issues; not made for the ABT60.

I have one on order. I am hoping that it will fit into one of my existing cases, but I can't find any size specs on the web. Anyone know where I can that or anyone who has one in their hands care to share?

The ABT60 is a Jumbo body style. You won't get it to fit in a Dred case.
I got the Alvarez case with mine. It isn't the best case that I have but it does the job.
The case was $89.95 here.
http://www.maplestreetguitars.com/sh...127&item=ABT60

Mine won't close without fussing with it. Alvarez told me they don't know what case the dealer sold me, because they don't make a HSC for the baritone and its not the same body as the jumbo.

I really like mine. Had to return one, but Maple Street treated me great, fitted it with a new bone saddle and did a nice set up, all with no extra charge. Although it’s a 1-11/16, the neck is on the full side and I like the playability. It’s a specialty guitar but at the price, I’m really glad I bought it. It’s really a lot of fun, big guitar with a big and low sound. I also have Alvarez Jumbo 12 string, the Baritone is bigger, be careful when buying a case on line, this thing is big.

The folks at Maple Street are awesome.

Nice Bari!
 

I bought a used one off of a guy on a forum (Don't remember which one) about 3 months ago and I installed a Baggs Element and have messed with different string gauges and stuff.

I ended up going with Med gauge 80/20 Elixirs and only tuning down to D. For fingerstyle and more Chord/Melody playing tuning to B works well with a Bari set of strings. (I liked the John Pearse the best sound wise, wish they lasted longer though) but for singing with Dropping down to D or a whole step below standard for me really worked the best. You can strum and it sounds very rich. Tuned to B it's just really pretty dark sounding.

While not a real high end guitar I am very impressed with the ABT60 for the money and I'd put it up against some I've played that was way more money.