Alvarez FD60 Thin-Body Acoustic


Alvarez FD60 Thin-Body Acoustic
by Jeff Blakeman
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The Alvarez FD60 series guitars are all Korean-made acoustic/electric cutaway, thin-body dreadnought styles. All guitars in this series have maple back and sides with nicely quilted maple soundboards. The back has an inlay running from the neck to the input jack/strap button combination. Finish options include a choice of natural, purple, blue (color of my review guitar), red, and black. The fingerboards and bridges are made of rosewood and, along with the body, are finished with an ivory/black binding. The fretboard is unadorned except at the 12th fret where there is a thin angled line of mother-of-pearl with a segmented abalone diamond in the center. The tuning machines are gold plated, Schaller-style. Electronics are Alvarez's Standard System 500 MKII (more on this later). A nicely appointed abalone rosette surrounds the sound hole to give this guitar an expensive appearance that belies its $800 retail price.

Other than a little of the blue finish on the neck binding of my particular guitar, the FD60 is an excellently constructed guitar. The color is rich with a smooth shine and aesthetically quite pleasing. Interior details are well presented with no sloppy glue marks or poorly fitted braces. Playability was average due to a fairly high action coming straight from the factory. The bridge's saddle is almost at the level of the rosewood bridge, not allowing much more lowering of the action. The neck was set right, with just a light bow around the middle with the only noticeable problem around the 18th fret, where the E and B treble strings "buzzed" a little. Raising the action might stop this but would probably make the action too high for most lead players. Considering how easily the cutaway allows access to these frets, it's too bad that many players might be discouraged from going to this sometimes unexplored area of traditional non-cutaway acoustics. However, with all that said, this is a relatively inexpensive instrument with quite good overall construction.

The unplugged sound is, as might be expected for a thinline cutaway, a little thin, yet it still projects fairly well. Where this guitar excels is when you plug it in. The electronics are easy to use, consisting of bass, middle, and treble faders, along with a contour control for adjusting the overall timbre of the instrument and a volume for overall output. There is also a convenient battery check button with an easy-to-see red LED to forewarn you of pending battery failure. Feedback was very controllable, even at high volume and close proximity to an amplifier. The string volumes are very even with all notes of a chord sounding clearly and distinctly, even with hard strumming. Single notes stand out well with the bass and treble strings all putting out an even output level, not too loud on the bass, and not too soft on the treble. Fingerstyle guitarists would find the sound quite acceptable.

An excellent value for guitarists at any level with a price affordable for most beginners, the FD60 Series guitars have quality construction and electronics that would satisfy most working musicians as well. Alvarez Guitars are from St. Louis Music at 1400 Ferguson Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63133. Web to: www.alvarezgtr.com

Jeff Blakeman is currently fronting the Jeff Blakeman Band in Washington, DC. He has played guitar professionally and semi-professionally for over 25 years.

Edited by: Barry Rudolph

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