Alvarez RF 300 Acoustic Grand Concert Folk Guitar
Alvarez RF 300 Acoustic Grand Concert Folk Guitar
I bought one of these yesterday at Fortuna Music Mart’s new Eureka store on Broadway for $269.00 plus tax. They also had some nice Alvarez acoustic electrics and a couple of nice Dean exotics but I really liked the sound of this one best.
So far I think it is a wonderful guitar. It is not an expensive model, especially for Alvarez, in fact it is considered an entry level or beginner’s guitar in the Alvarez line.
It is a simple design but it has a solid mahogany top with a dark mahogany matte finish. The intonation is almost perfect and the action is great. Bear in mind that I am no lead guitar player or even a folk finger picker, I am a troubador who bashes chords and sings. I have a real guitar player (Jimmie) who backs me up and makes me sound musical.
This will probably be my carry out guitar for a while. I play several times a week on the street so I use what I call “carry out” guitars for this. A “carry out” or “street” guitar must be inexpensive, fairly loud, and durable. A street guitar, because of the circumstance, must sometimes be used as a shield, is sometimes rained on or spat upon, and it gets handled by lots of people who haven’t played guitar in a long time. We will see how durable this one is, but it does seem to be well constructed.
My other carry out guitars that I have used in the past year include a Yamaha FG 403S (with a nice solid spruce top, a very loud dreadnought, very nice guitar) and a Crafter MD50/N (not quite so loud but very solidly built.) Both the Yamaha and the Crafter were purchased at Humboldt Bay Trading for $100 each. At $269 the Alvarez is a bit expensive for a carry out so we will see how that goes.
With the mahogany top this guitar sounds quite a bit like a Martin, but plays much better than the cheaper Martins that are on the market. This guitar is probably the closest I will ever get to owning a Martin, since I am not rich.
have a peaceful day,
Bill
RF300
Folk Guitar with Solid Mahogany Top
Featuring stunning mahogany tonewoods, a rosewood fingerboard, and Acrylic Pearl accenting, the RF300 is a folk guitar that plays as good as it looks. This is an outstanding value in an entry-level instrument.
Body Style: Folk
Back: Mahogany
Sides: Mahogany
Top: Solid Mahogany
Fingerboard: Rosewood
Fingerboard Inlay: Dots
Bridge: Rosewood
Body Binding: Multiple
Soundhole Rosette: Acrylic Pearl
Tuning Machines: Chrome Die-cast
Finish: Natural
Electronics: N/A
