Alvarez RD20S of Yamaha FG700S?

[BkandGt]

I'm looking for my first guitar. I've narrowed it down to these two, but I'm a little stuck now. I don't really know what to look or listen for when I'm playing one. I'm a super noob, and they both feel and sound pretty good to me.

 

I'm most interested in playing pop music. I'd like to play a bit of everything, but most of my time will probably be spent on that.

 

Which one would you go for? I'd go for the Alvarez on looks alone, but I don't want to get a worse guitar just because it looks better. It also seems to get a tiny bit better reviews in the reviews I've found.

[datru]

Bump - I'd like to hear the answer too.

[guit30]

I play an Alvarez RD20S and love it, have no desire for anything else, you have to check them out as any guitar, each one is different.

Have played the Yamaha, it is very nice too, I guess it's up to which is more comfortable, the Yamaha has a bigger body, 16" lower bout, plus I was skeptical of the super skinny neck.

Will tell you, Alvarez does not back it's products, had problems with my first one, sent it to the factory and they told me there was nothing wrong with it and set it up again and sent it back. My store said it was fine, I refused to accept it so the store owner paid me his wholesale price and I got out.

MF is where I got the next one, I asked them what they would do in the situation I just went thru. They told me, I would sent the defective guitar to them and they would send me a new one. So i got one from them, got a pro setup from a Luthier(not a guitar tech) and am a very happy camper

Jim

[Godot]

Personally, I'd go with a Yamaha FG720S over either of those. It's a little bit nicer than the FG700S, and Yamaha makes good instruments.

 

I've had an FG400 for 15 years, and it's a great guitar.