Acoustic or Acoustic/Electric Alverez?

[Shakabrah]

Looking at:

Alvarez AJ60S - six string

Alvarez AJ60S12 - twelve string

[guitarist21]

Questions: Should I get the acoustic versions and add a pre/pickup after market? Or get the factory acoustic/electric versions? How good is the factory pre/pickup (600 T Ml II)? I love the acoustic versions but don't know a lot about aftermarket pre/pickups.

Answers:
Yes.
No.
Its okay.

When folks ask a question like this, the right answer is almost always Get An After-Market Pickup. This way, you can get a guitar that you know sounds great and get a pickup that you think (or at least that we think ) will preserve the sonic integrity that made you want to buy it in the first place.

There are a bunch of different kinds of pickups but suffice it to say that I'm pretty sure one of the best ones is the K&K Pure Western Mini. Or, if you want to spend a little less (as I did when recently purchasing a K&K system), you could go with the K&K Twin Spot. Both sound awesome in my opinion. Check out www.kksound.com for more info about K&K's pickups. I bought mine right from the website and they were a pleasure to work with.

Ellen

[recordingtrack1]

I mostly agree with Git21, except on aftermarket electronics.

I own two Alvarez solid wood Masterworks guitars. They are quite nice, especially for the money I paid for them. (Both are blems and I use them for practice, loaners and beaters frankly.) Regardless of the blem factor they play easily and sound great with very good intonation and the action on them is comfortable. Both are solid hog and Engleman Spruce.

The 600mkII electronics are for crap and I highly do not recommend this. One of my Alvarez guitars has this system and it really blows chunks. It sounds so bad that I don't even plug it in anymore. I really like the Baggs i beam. Great balance and will not quack like most piezo's. A buddy of mine uses them exclusively in his Epiphone Masterbilts and they sound almost as good as my Taylor ES system, which is about a close to perfection in acoustic guitar electronics as I have ever found.

Anyway, JMHO. I hope it helps a little.

RT1:)