Alvarez Masterworks MF60OM

[Spineycat]

Anyone here have one ? Looks like quite a lot of guitar for the money.

[Oldguy64]

I have an MD70CE.
I bought it six years ago.
It plays and sounds like it cost way more than it did.

The MF(masterworks folk) is the same size and shape as a Taylor x14 or a Martin 00.
If will compare favorably with both of those guitars.

[llew]

The dread version (MF60BG) continually receives great reviews. If the OM is like the dread I don't see how you can go wrong for $600?

[BlueStarfish]

Even though this is an older thread, I haven’t seen many comments or reviews on this guitar, and I just picked one up yesterday at my local GC so I’ll give a review in hopes they are useful to a future reader. The headline is that the Alvarez MF60OM (or at least, my copy) is a great guitar, highly recommended.

When I went to GC yesterday I had actually been tire kicking for a solid wood spruce-and-mahogany dread. Wasn’t intending to buy, and definitely not an OM style guitar. But the Alvarez sounded great, easily on par with any of the spruce-and-mahogany dreads I tried yesterday. I compared it to a D-18, a couple of Jd-45’s, a Taylor 317, a nice Yamaha, and a couple of others. The Alvarez has really great bass and that know-it-when-you-hear-it-sounds-like-the-old-records tone mojo. Notes on first and second string are nice and fat too (it’s a short scale). I play entirely with a pick, strumming (and singing) and now learning flatpicking. I don’t expect this would be the right guitar for an all-acoustic bluegrass band, but for playing solo or even a duo I think it will be great. I’m not really a finger picker, so I can’t comment on usefulness for that technique. Mine didn’t come with a pickup so I can’t say how it sounds amplified (but I like that I can add the pickup of my choice instead of being stuck with the factory’s choice).

Fit and finish and appointments all very good. Looks very traditional. The pick guard is very nice Tortoise-style material, not the usual low-end printed pepperoni pizza stuff. Top is beautiful grain pattern. Herringbone binding is beautiful. Neck is very smooth and fast satin finish. Out of box set-up was perfect for me on saddle height, but I did lower the nut slots down just a hair. Intonation is great. Sounds good with a capo (I’ve learned that is not true for many guitars even very expensive ones!)

For $600, I think this will keep me busy and entertained for quite a while. My purchase of a spruce-and-hog dread will wait until another year.

[roylor4]

Originally Posted by Oldguy64

I have an MD70CE.
I bought it six years ago.
It plays and sounds like it cost way more than it did.

The MF(masterworks folk) is the same size and shape as a Taylor x14 or a Martin 00.
If will compare favorably with both of those guitars.

I'm sorry OG, but this is incorrect. As a former owner of a MF70 and as a long time owner of OM's I can categorically state they are the same dimensions. The Masterworks guitars are, however, a little more than 1/4" deeper.

Martin 00s are quite a bit smaller than OM's and Taylor x14 series are larger than OM's (A full inch wider lower bout). Taylor x12's are more similar to an OM, though a tad smaller. The Taylor 14 series are the equivalent to a Martin 0000.

[Oldguy64]

Originally Posted by roylor4

I'm sorry OG, but this is incorrect. As a former owner of a MF70 and as a long time owner of OM's I can categorically state they are the same dimensions. The Masterworks guitars are, however, a little more than 1/4" deeper.

Martin 00s are quite a bit smaller than OM's and Taylor x14 series are larger than OM's (A full inch wider lower bout). Taylor x12's are more similar to an OM, though a tad smaller. The Taylor 14 series are the equivalent to a Martin 0000.

I stand corrected.

[geelinus]

I have an Alvarez MF610ESB, which I believe is essentially the Musicians Friend version of same guitar and think it's a great guitar.

It's very playable and has very good, even tone - there's more bass than I expected. It's especially nice for fingerstyle but strums nicely too -a definite keeper.

[Arthur Slowhand]

Tried one of these today while shopping for a Martin 000-10e, or something with a 1 3/4" nut.

Never even looked at an Alvarez before, but was blown away. Lovely rich deep lows, balanced mids and trebles, it had resonance and chime - good for light chord playing and finger-style. The finish was beautiful and the neck a comfy soft and shallow 'V' - not chunky, but not at all thin. Intonation perfect, to my ears.

The only thing that stopped me buying it there and then was the string spacing. These are listed as 1 3/4" nut, but the string spacing was 2mm (sorry to mix metric and imperial) less than a Martin Road Series 000-10e (an astonishingly lifeless guitar!!!) with the same nut width. The string spacing is effectively that of a 1 11/16" nut. It's as tight as on my Martin Dread.

I guess I could buy it and get a new nut cut, but wondered if anyone else has come across the same 'issue'... for me it is an issue because I need wider string spacing.

[jaymarsch]

I’m a big Alvarez fan - consistently good, balanced tone. But string spacing at the saddle is the one drawback of my MPA66SHB - it is 2 and 1/8th so I end up playing it closer to the bridge.
Best,
Jayne

[sublro]

just went to GC and one of these followed me home - it's an incredibly comfortable player with rich, even tone that stands up very well against my om-15 and om-21

[Sugar Bear]

They have a cutaway version of that guitar. Every time I see them I get tempted. I imagine myself playing a little John Renbourn-type stuff on one.

One of these days, it's probably going to happen. Not much money, and the Alvarez guitars that I've played have been nice guitars for the price.

[Texfire]

Just wanted to come by and say that I bought my MF60OM sight unseen partly based on some of the posts in this thread, as there weren't any dealers local who had one in stock. It was a leap of faith based on post and video reviews.

I have to say I'm not disappointed, this guitar punches way above it's weight pricewise. I was a little surprised at how light the strings were, ultimately went to Alvarez's website to figure out that it's shipped with 10s, which are much lighter than I'm used to. Revealed that I might need to work on my fingerings on the 1st and 2nd strings, as I found them being pulled out of tune sometimes. I'm going to try some Low Tension Santa Cruz strings next to see if I like it better that way, but it's quite responsive even with the stock strings, doesn't take much effort to get that top moving.

Short version, I'm giving this guitar a thumbs up for those looking for an OM format guitar that works with both fingerstyle and flatpicking.

Tex

[sublro]

Originally Posted by Texfire

... I was a little surprised at how light the strings were, ultimately went to Alvarez's website to figure out that it's shipped with 10s, which are much lighter than I'm used to.
Tex

hmm, seemed just like regular light gauge to me and don't know of any acoustics including alvarez that have 10s as standard equip. just cut and pasted this from the Alvarez web site page for the mf60om


TunerNickel Open Gear
BindingHerringbone
Bridge PinsEbony
StringsD'Addario EXP16
AccessoryAFC30 Flexicase

and from the d'addario website

D'Addario EXP16 Specifications:
E: .012
B: .016
G: .024
D: .032
A: .042
E: .053

not surprised that you may have felt yourself pulling strings out of tune and that the strings felt lighter than normal. the mf60om is a short-scale guitar, in other words, the distance from nut to saddle, and therefore the amount of tension required to pull regular light-gauge strings up to concert pitch are both less. that will give a shorter scale guitar the feeling of lighter strings than same strings on a regular (long) scale guitar.

[sublro]

Originally Posted by Arthur Slowhand

The only thing that stopped me buying it there and then was the string spacing. These are listed as 1 3/4" nut, but the string spacing was 2mm (sorry to mix metric and imperial) less than a Martin Road Series 000-10e (an astonishingly lifeless guitar!!!) with the same nut width. The string spacing is effectively that of a 1 11/16" nut. It's as tight as on my Martin Dread.

I guess I could buy it and get a new nut cut, but wondered if anyone else has come across the same 'issue'... for me it is an issue because I need wider string spacing.

I did get a new nut cut as there was a good amount of fretboard outside the strings to work with… plays like buttah…

[nuchdig]

I almost brought one of these home. Went with the dread version MD60EBG. Kinda wish I had gone with the OM as I have enough dreads. The OM won the "Guitarist Choice" award a few yrs back, fwiw.
Very pleased with the MD, by the way. I may upgrade the Baggs Element VTC