Alvarez Yairi stunner!!

[rumble]

Originally Posted by darylcrisp

the Yairi's I've had hands on with were all very nice instruments. very well made and a nice tone. loved the fast thin necks.

I've never seen in hand one of this age with that style bridge-only familiar with the Direct coupled bridge. someone educate me on the use/purpose of the screws on this bridge in the listing.

thanks
d

Adjustable bridge for your desired height requirement, same idea Gibson used on a few of their 1960’s models

[drive-south]

Originally Posted by darylcrisp

the Yairi's I've had hands on with were all very nice instruments. very well made and a nice tone. loved the fast thin necks.

I've never seen in hand one of this age with that style bridge-only familiar with the Direct coupled bridge. someone educate me on the use/purpose of the screws on this bridge in the listing.

thanks
d

They allow you to adjust the height of the saddle, similar to the Gibson adjustable bridge.

[KalamazooGuy]

Looks a little different from my '72 5065.

http://imgur.com/gallery/xGCLG6s

[John Arnold]

I've never seen in hand one of this age with that style bridge-only familiar with the Direct coupled bridge.

You are missing a lot of Alvarez-Yairi history. Soon after this guitar was built, Alvarez adopted Martin style bridges and used them until the direct coupled bridge was introduced in 1989.

[KenL]

I had a 5065 that I bought right off the bench of the luthier in Lincoln, NE who was replacing the original adjustable bridge with a Martin-style bridge. This was an older one with "Alvarez" in MOP script on the headstock and "Yairi" on the inner label.

What was odd about mine is that it had a zero fret. I've never seen that before in an old Yairi.

It was a really good guitar, and the back looked just like Brazilian, but my guess is that it was jacaranda (without getting off into the weeds about that!).

[George Henry]

I saw one of these models used at our local Guitar Center for $599. I passed because I don't need another guitar.

That early model features laminate back and sides, although to be fair Yairi typically uses a laminate with all layers of the featured wood type.

Yairi also makes all solid Masterworks series guitars. I have one, a DYMR70sb, a 12 fret dread of solid rosewood b/s. These are very rare on the used market, but can be found through Guitar Center/Musicians Friend online.
I took a leap and bought one. Glad I did.

[Goat Mick]

I love the old Alvarez guitars from the 70's. They made some great instruments and I wouldn't have any problems with the price of this one. They are really good guitars and those back and sides are gorgeous!

[John Arnold]

the back looked just like Brazilian, but my guess is that it was jacaranda

Or both, as explained above. The 'real' jacaranda looks nothing like Brazilian.

It is a light, soft wood with little figure.

https://www.finewoodworking.com/forum/jacaranda-wood

Bignoniaceae is sometimes called the trumpet creeper family. Many of its species are vines and an identifying characteristic of the family are the beautiful trumpet shaped flowers most of its members produce. Some of the tropical species become large enough trees to produce respectable saw logs, as do our two native catalpas (especially the northern catalpa; Catalpa speciosa.) Many of the more decorative cultivars are on the small side. The woods tend to be rather soft and a little spungy, like our catalpa, but some of the tropical species are moderately dense...in the mahogany-walnut range. They're nothing like the rosewoods in terms of density nor are they as pigmented. Most of them are in the beige to tan range and rather bland figured. Our native catalpa is ring-porous and among the more attractive woods in this family...But the bignoniaceae is perhaps best known for primavera. This Central American species (now scarce) was once a very important cabinet wood with working properties and figure similar to genuine mahogany, but much blonder in color.

From Wikipedia:

The wood is pale grey to whitish, straight-grained, relatively soft and knot-free. It dries without difficulty and is often used in its green or wet state for turnery and bowl carving.

[henryp]

Originally Posted by KenL

What was odd about mine is that it had a zero fret. I've never seen that before in an old Yairi.

My Alvarez-Yairi 5065, bought in the early '70s in St Louis, has a zero fret.

[John Arnold]

My Alvarez-Yairi 5065, bought in the early '70s in St Louis, has a zero fret.

As well as the subject of this thread.

[DaveKell]

Kazuo Yairi guitars set the standard for laminated sides. The 3 Yairis I've owned, including my recently restored car crash damaged DY90, were all my preferred guitars over high dollar Martin and Taylor guitars I had at the same time.