NGD Alvarez MD70 Masterworks (virgin thread)

[imkaa]

Greetings fellow readers,

I've been looking for my first 'proper' guitar for close to a year now, I was looking for a guitar of great value and quality to replace my 1st and only guitar, a humble Yamaha F310.

I had an almost-unrealistic list of requirements as follows;
1. Below USD $730
2. Full Solid Construction
3. Forward Shifted Scalloped Bracing
4. Strictly No 'Plastic-made appointments'
5. Abalone Inlays and Wood Bindings and Purflings
6. and most importantly, a good sounding piece that would 'speak' to me (subjective).

I looked everywhere, and tried almost every guitar of every brand i stumbled upon in the span of close to a year.

Some worthy to note guitars that i felt 'spoke' to me was the;
- Yamaha LL16/36 (Engelmann IR Dreadnaught)
- Maestro Raffles-K (Full Koa Small Jumbo)
- Cort L1200P (Cedar IR Parlor)
- Martin D21 Special (Spruce IR Dreadnaught)
- Taylor 818 (Spruce IR Grand Orchestra)

As expected, none of these wooden angels completely fulfilled my ambitious checklist. Fast forward a year later, I miraculously found this preloved 2013 MD70 on the 20/03/15, and it happens to fulfill every single requirements on my list.

It was listed for an unbelievable USD $530 and it included a;
- Kaces Boutique Polyfoam Hard case
- LR Baggs Anthem
- Gotoh® SG301 Gold Tuners Installed

Here are the specifications;
- Top: Solid AA Grade Sitka Spruce
- Back & Sides: Solid Indian Rosewood
- Neck: One piece Mahogany neck and heel
- Fingerboard: Rosewood
- Bridge: Rosewood Bi-Level Bridge
- Bindings: Maple, Rosewood
- Strings: Elixir Nanoweb® 80/20 Bronze Extra Light
- Finish: High gloss
- Bracing: Forward-shifted, hand-scalloped, hand-sanded
- Nut/Saddle: Cattle bone

#MadeInTheFarEast

I'm really happy with this purchase, and it has definitely kept my year-long GAS at bay. For now at least.

On a serious note though, I'm planning to build my own boutique piece from Jeffry Yong's Guitar Building Course within the next couple of years, that I hope, will be my last guitar.

Anyways,
Here are the obligatory pictures of the Alvarez MD70 Masterworks;



Cheers,
Imkaa

[balerman]

Congratulations on the Alvarez! It's a nice looking guitar. I've been impressed with most of the Alvarez guitars I've tried.

[Borderdon]

Fantastic guitar, congrats !
Definitely tick a lot of boxes.

[StrumFu]

Congrats on a very nice guitar!

[Nyghthawk]

Congrats on a beautiful guitar!

[barley]

Great looking and I bet it sounds like it looks.

[Fire&Rain]

Well done! One of the best cases of delayed gratification for GAS I have seen here.

[Dru Edwards]

Imkaa, Welcome to the AGF! Great first post. Enjoy your Alvarez.

[Gmountain]

Beautiful. Congrats.

[ghale]

Congrats on the Alvarez! I was seriously considering buying a MD60 awhile ago. Very nice guitars coming from Alvarez right now.

[SFCRetired]

Looks real nice

[architype]

Good choice! I don't think there is a better value out there right now than the Alverez Masterworks series of guitars. Lots of tone for the buck and also very well made instruments.

Gorgeous little girl! Congratulations!

[GangstaPat]

Congrats! Almost bought one of these myself. Alvarez makes a kick *** guitar.

[The Growler]

Congrats on the new guitar and welcome to the AGF!