"Alvarez Acustic"

[Brad Elbein]

My son brought home from Guatemala a "cheap" guitar. I intend to convert it into an Octave Mandolin. Its label reads "Alvarez Acustic" (not "acoustic"!). (And by the way, in Espanol, it should be "acustico".) While the label has two Alvarez logos, it otherwise doesn't look like an Alvarez label. And the "model number" is hand lettered, perhaps in pencil.

I'm probably going to perform reconstructive surgery on it anyway, but I'm just curious if any of you have run into this before.

[Ned Knepp]

I'm pretty sure I know what label you're talking about. I see it in a pawn shop guitars and on Ebay every once in a while but I don't know anything about the company. It's always a "south of the border" instrument. Some of them haven't looked too bad  in comparison to most of the instrument from mexico I've seen but they haven't exactly impressed me with their fit and finish.

I think, maybe, the label indicates another "Alvarez" family that is involved in instrument making and the misspelling may be their way of getting away with using the name on their label.

[Len Biglin]

I am aware of two Alvarez brands , one asian and one spanish (I think) , some sound quite good , thats all I know .