Vintage Alvarez mandolin info?

[hat]

You would think that in this 'new age' that anything and everything would be right there at your fingertips, or at least on your browser. I was looking for information recently on a mandolin Alvarez marketed in the 70's - it was an F style oval hole, with a varnish finish. I don't recall the model number. I have searched the world over, and thought I found.....no, wait - that was an old song..I didn't find squat! I know they made them, I had a buddy that had one. Heck, there arn't even any listings for old Alvarez catalogs. What gives?

[frankmcr]

Originally Posted by hat

You would think that in this 'new age' that anything and everything would be right there at your fingertips, or at least on your browser. I was looking for information recently on a mandolin Alvarez marketed in the 70's - it was an F style oval hole, with a varnish finish. I don't recall the model number. I have searched the world over, and thought I found.....no, wait - that was an old song..I didn't find squat! I know they made them, I had a buddy that had one. Heck, there arn't even any listings for old Alvarez catalogs. What gives?

Could it have been from the '80s? Here's a couple from then, an A-800 & an A-900:

https://reverb.com/marketplace/folk-...?query=alvarez

[Wade Hampton]

Hat, I've seen some Japanese-made mandolins from the same era in the F-4 style you described, though I don't think they had the Alvarez brand name on them.

Until about 1986 or so the leading manufacturer for Japanese-made bluegrass style instruments was a company named Kasuga. They made beginner to what we would consider intermediate grade instruments, the cheaper ones out of plywood, the more expensive ones all-solid wood. Except for their top of the line instruments, most of the Japanese-made Kentucky mandolins were built for them by Kasuga.

When I played a tour of Japanese bluegrass festivals and clubs in 1985, most of the Japanese bluegrass enthusiasts that I met had Kasugas, especially if they played mandolin or banjo.

Kasuga made these instruments under their own brand name for the Japanese domestic market, but under other brand names for export (Kasuga did briefly attempt to market instruments in North America in the 1970's, but that didn't last long.) After the US dollar $ fell drastically against the Japanese yen ¥ in 1985, Kasuga - like most musical instrument manufacturers building modest to moderate quality instruments in Japanese factories - went out of business.

Kasuga might have lasted until 1986, but then closed down.

So what I'd suggest is that you widen your search parameters to include other brands like Ibanez, Morris and Kasuga. As I mentioned, most of the pre-1985/86 Kentucky mandolins were made by Kasuga, though I don't recall any Kentuckys in the F-4 configuration back then. Use keywords like "Japanese-made," "all solid wood" and "F-4 style," and see what you come up with.

Okay, I just got off the phone with the one person I know who has a Japanese-made F-4 style mandolin. He's a multi-instrumentalist friend of mine named Kevin, and he bought a used, good quality mandolin in Japan in 1990 or '91. I had never noticed the brand name on his mandolin, in large part because I haven't seen him play it in a long time.

Guess what - it's a Kasuga! Unlike any of the other Kasuga mandolins I've seen, his is professional quality and has a hand-carved top and back. It's a fine-sounding mandolin.

So expand your search parameters to include Kasuga as well as Ibanez, Morris and any other Japanese brands you can think of, and maybe you'll find a solid wood F-4, even if it doesn't have the Alvarez brand name.

Hope this helps.


Wade Hampton Miller