New Alvarez ELECTRIC day!

[badpenguin]

Back in the early 90's Alvarez came out with an electric line to compete in the "super strat" world. Some of you may remember the Alvarez Dana Scoop. Very original design with unlimited access to the 22nd fret. (Go ahead, Google it, I'll wait.) The was followed by the Dana II. Access to the 22nd fret with a more traditional design. I had both, no neck pickup bothered me on the Scoop, and the Dana II was... ehh, okish at best. Then other than a more traditional SSH strat copy, and a few tele copies, poof, the electric line disappeared. (They still make some of the best acoustics around.)

I saw this beast in a pawn shop and had to do a double take. "Is it a Reb Beach from Ibanez????? Oh please, let it be that!! Nope, it's an Alvarez." that seemed to copy the design from Ibanez on the Reb Beach model. (Can't afford a Reb Beach now-a-days.)

I am a sucker for flame on a neck. This has a fretboard with flame. Stupidly cool fret markers on a maple board. A Floyd, that you can actually adjust your action INDIVIDUALLY, 2 singles and a hum, 1 vol two tone, EXACTLY like a strat. (That will change very soon, trust me.) and the weird/compelling cut-a-way that makes little sense. Ok, you can bend up to the point of your strings snapping, but why?

It's a 1992 Alvarez Successor. Most likely Korean but might be Japanese. Hard to believe it's 32 years old. Had the standard crusty "Oh God, do I need a tetanus shot?" strings on it. And after a cleaning, put a set of 9's on it, and played it. (I know, I use 10's almost exclusively, but I didn't want to go and futz with the Floyd for a week getting the balance right with a gauge change.) How's it play you ask? Wonderfully. Low action, nice frets, (After a cleaning and polish of course.) and a perfect balance on your lap. A minor ding on the 11th fret, but hey, it's 32 years old. Sonically, the hum is great. REALLY nice balls to it and sounds good using the switch for the coil tap. The neck pickup..... ehhh. I will change that to a single sized hum in a couple of weeks. Just don't like the sound of the single on it. The middle single is fine. AND it has the original hard case too! All for under $300! (Open cavity shot since I had to clean the heck out of the 5 way.)

Enjoy.

[gardo]

She’s a wild one

you must know every shop in town. It seems like nothing gets away from you 

HNGD

[daddymack]

Although I am not into 'shred machines', you scored! I vaguely remember those from the mid 90s, and of course...you got it in the correct color!😉

Worst case you could part that out for more than you paid for it.

and yeah, it does have that Reb Beach thing going on...except the headstock is too Kramer-ish.

Also nice to see another Babylon 5 fan....I'm a 'bonehead'!

[DeepEnd]

Congratulations. Happy New Guitar Day.  I've mentioned that my bass is a '95 Alvarez "Villain." It seems to be about as good as any other low end bass. Alvarez could make a decent electric instrument when they set their mind to it.