J Alvarez Guitars

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J Alvarez Guitars

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sig

Posts: 296
Joined: Nov. 7 2007
From: Wisconsin

J Alvarez Guitars

Hi All,
I'm new to the Foro and thought it was time to post. The site looks teriffic and seems to be a tremendous resource for all things flamenco. I have been playing guitar off and on for over 30 years and studying Flamenco since 2002 but have loved the art form since I was a little kid. There is so much to learn about this folk art but it is a fantastic journey!!

I was wondering if anyone knows about a guitar I spotted recently at a local used guitar store. The label says the following: J Alvarez, San Pedro 7, Madrid 14 there is no model number or construction year. It's not a flamenco but a classical with a solid Cedar top and Rosewood back and sides. It has a broken roller on the low E tuner and could use a set of new strings but overall its in great shape and sounds very good. I'm curious if anyone has any ideas if this is a Luthier grade instrument or merely a factory production model made with a Spanish sounding name??? I suspect the latter... Many thanks!

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Nov. 19 2007 16:52:41

RobJe

Posts: 731
Joined: Dec. 16 2006
From: UK

RE: J Alvarez Guitars (in reply to sig)

Hi Sig - welcome to the forum.
Juan Alvarez Gil (1932-2001) and his brother Lorenzo started off as self taught guitarreros in about 1946. Juan is supposed to have received some advice from Marcelo Barbero. His guitars started to improve in the late 50’s/early 60s and he made some guitars for Archangel Fernandez) who had much stronger connections with Barbero, having completed some unfinished guitars for Barbero’s widow and trained his son). The label at this time usually read “Construido por Juan Alvarez para Casa Arcangel Fernandez” – dated but not signed. It would be great if this clarity of labelling was common practice today. Later Juan developed his own business and his label had a fancy coat of arms and in intial letters - J A in yellow blocks.
The label in your guitar has the correct address but with no date or signature it was probably bought in for sale in Juan's shop. It might be possible to tell more from some photos.
Juan is succeeded by his Juan Miguel.
Rob

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Nov. 19 2007 20:20:23

sig

Posts: 296
Joined: Nov. 7 2007
From: Wisconsin

RE: J Alvarez Guitars (in reply to RobJe)

Rob,
Thanks for the reply, it is greatly appreciated!! So now I know it could be a very good instrument but since it has no model or date it would be hard to know for sure. It seems Alvarez makes high end luthier grade models and some semi-professional instruments which seem quite nice as well. They are asking around $350 if I recall and I spoke to the store owner and he told me he couldn't really find anything out about it either but perhaps he doesn't have access to this wonderful resource!! Thanks again for the info...

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Nov. 19 2007 22:59:05