Jumbo Sunshade, Music Gear Review - Alvarez AD70SC Acoustic Guitar

Jumbo Sunshade - Ezine

Music Gear Review - Alvarez AD70SC Acoustic Guitar
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        [Update - Oops!  I didn't think to 
        remove that LR Baggs pickup before snapping these pictures.  Sorry 
        if this caused any confusion!]You know that thing where 
        sometimes you're working on a project and for the sake of hammering 
        through it you just leave something that you're not happy with and you 
        say "we'll fix that later"?

        Well somebody came 
        back to me with something recorded last year so that we could try out 
        this Alvarez AD70SC where other guitars just hadn't "done it".  
        Played right, the Alvarez turned out to be an excellent match for the 
        material.

        [AKG 414 at the soundhole and a cardioid SDC at the 12th fret - in 
        case anybody's interested.]

        
            Alvarez' AD70SC dreadnought acoustic guitar sports a solid spruce top 
        with Indian rosewood back & sides.  Varnished and with that 
        cutaway - this wood combination sounds like what you'd expect it to: decent lows and an excellent midrange, with a subdued complexity in the 
        highs.  I didn't have an AD70S (non-cutaway) to directly compare 
        this guitar to, but i've done enough of those comparisons to know what 
        kind of changes take place sonically when you cut away the shoulder of an 
        acoustic guitar.

        [More details on how it sounds unplugged and plugged on 
        page3.]Tuning gears are the nickel Grover-style closed-back type you see on 
        most acoustic guitars.  I couldn't find a spec on the ratio; they 
        feel like 16:1.  As with other Alvarez guitars i've used, these 
        gears have no play and they don't drift - what more could you ask for?

        
            I am all for the three-piece mahogany neck design, as this will 
        decrease (some say eliminate) the future risk of neck twist.  But i 
        do wonder about this particular guitar, because the neck heel is the 
        'sharp', more pronounced type, whereas my memory of these guitars is 
        that they had the rounded style.  Also, there is dark coloration 
        where the neck meets the body side.  A 
        factory second?  Hmm...Headstock face has an Indian rosewood veneer with the Alvarez "double 
        A" logo inlaid.  The truss rod adjustment screw is accessed via the 
        sound hole.  Headstock is bound, as is the 
        rosewood fret board.

        There are small black markers along the neck binding, but no 
        markers/inlay on the fretboard itself other than a decorative inlay at 
        the 12th fret.
Headstock face has an Indian rosewood

        
            veneer with the Alvarez 
            "double A" logo inlaid.  The truss rod adjustment screw is 
            accessed via the sound hole.  Headstock is bound, as is the 
            rosewood fret board.Like many people, i personally don't dig
        Alvarez' pick guard shape - i think it just looks goofy.  But i 
        have to say that now that i'm looking at it on a guitar with a 
        cutaway, it does make a 
        certain aesthetic sense.

        Nut and partially-compensated saddle are either TUSQ or a TUSQ clone.  
        This saddle has the kickback edge for the B string to 

        
            help with intonation.  Bridge pins are plastic.  There is a strap button on the underside 
        of the neck heel, and yes, it certainly is annoying when playing 
        box scales in D at the 10th fret!The Alvarez AD70SC comes with a factory-installed piezoelectric undersaddle (UST) pickup, and the System 600T MKII preamp/EQ.  For 
        more on this, keep reading.

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