Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???

Subject: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: Parson
Date: 11 Jan 01 - 06:59 PM

Hi, I hope someone can help me make an major decision fast. I looked today at an Alvarez Yairi Guitar at our local shop. The owner only has one. He bought it from another shop that is going out of business. The paper tag inside the sound hole says DY -45. I can't find it on the Alvarez Homepage. Its got a tobacco sunburst front & the back & sides look like some kind of tiger stripped mahogany, if there any any such thing. I am considering trading in a JB Player & paying the difference. He will allow me $350 from my JBP & soft-shell case. My JBP has an electrical hookup installed in place of the strap button. He's asking $900 for the Alvarez & a hard shell case. I'll have to have the electrical hook-up installed. Does anyone know about this particular model & what's the word on Alvarez Yairi in general?

Many thanks,

Randall

Subject: RE: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 11 Jan 01 - 07:03 PM

Yup. Fine guitar. If the neck is straight, go for it. K. Yairi was a SERIOUS builder.(and designer...in this case)

Rick

Subject: RE: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: Parson
Date: 11 Jan 01 - 07:08 PM

Yeap, the neck is straight & it frets so nice. Hardly any pressure & its there. It has a deep, rich, resonant sound, not as crisp as a Martin. Several who heard it today said that it has a "Gibson sound."

Randall

Subject: RE: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: catspaw49
Date: 11 Jan 01 - 07:31 PM

AS Rick said, Yairi in this case as a designer did quite a job, Most of the Yairi models are less plagued with neck problems than other Alvarez instruments, but still check to be sure that not only the neck, but the GRAIN os straight on the neck and at 90 degrees to the body. This alone has caused a lot of neck failures in their guitars, but I doubt you'll see this on the Yairi models as they are a bit better in selecting the neck blanks.

Price wise, I dunno. Strikes me as a bit high, but I mat be wrong. I did some checking and here are some examples:

New A-Y DY45 at a considerably lower price.

A 1979 A-Y DY45 Looks to be an older jewel. A lot less money too.

And HERE is a 1990 A-Y DY90 that's a real beauty located at Elderly for much less money too.

All in all, I think I'd be taking a pass or buying for a lot less.......$900.00 bucks is pretty steep for one. Just my opinion..........

Spaw

Subject: RE: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: GUEST,CraigS
Date: 11 Jan 01 - 08:04 PM

Does seem like a lot of money - but that may mean that it will be sitting in the shop for a while. That being the case, you could consider that the shop man is not going to be taking a loss on the part-exchange: what he's offering you for your old guitar is probably $20 - $50 below what he'd sell it for. In your position, I'd come to the conclusion that I want another guitar, and I don't want the one I've got - so try to sell your existing guitar in the free ads for $420 or so (lets you drop the price so the guy buying it thinks he's made a bargain). Then, cash in hand, go back to the shop with the meanest hard-dealing friend you've got, and try to strike the hardest CASH deal you can. From personal experience I can tell you money talks in these matters!

Subject: RE: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: kendall
Date: 11 Jan 01 - 09:12 PM

$900.00 is high. This is a very good guitar, but, I paid that much for a beautiful Taylor 810 with a hard shell case. Consider a Larrivee.. just dont take it to OZ.

Subject: RE: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: Midchuck
Date: 11 Jan 01 - 09:46 PM

So you're trying to cross-check the flatpick-l advice against the mudcat advice, huh? Don't trust either group, huh?

Well, I can't blame you.

If you have $900 you can get a low-end Taylor or Martin. Makes more sense to me, personally.

Kendall - Why shouldn't a Larrivee be taken to Oz? Do the Dingos eat them?

Peter.

Subject: RE: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: catspaw49
Date: 11 Jan 01 - 09:58 PM

So Peter....How does the advice compare? Just curious.

Kendall is referring to some BS that a places in Oz are saying that Larivee's glue won't hold up in Oz. Sounds like BS to me but the crap pesists. It came up here almost a year ago and I'm still waiting for some documented info.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: Parson
Date: 11 Jan 01 - 11:31 PM

Well, now, Midchuck, it isn't that I wanted to compare one against the other so much, just that I wanted to get as much info as possible in as short a time as possible. However, I think the "List" as a whole is a little prejudiced toward Martins. Can't say that I blame them, but, oh well.

Thanks to all who have offered advice. The think is, this guy doesn't have Taylors, Larivees, etc. Mostly Hondo, Arias, JB Players, etc. The other thing is that I can work at interest-free loan with him for a portion of the balance. That may wash out any difference in the price.

Randall

Subject: RE: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: catspaw49
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 12:09 AM

Well, it seems to me he has already built the interest in to the price he's asking. Unless you are completely desperate, I'd save my money and wait. There are too many good guitars out there for less money.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: kendall
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 04:20 AM

You dont have to "settle" for a low end Taylor. Keep your eye out for a good used one. That goes for Larrivee, Guild, and Gibson. Martins seldom come down in price to what they are actually worth.

Subject: RE: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: John Hardly
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 01:52 PM

Just an echo to the already good advice here, and I have NOTHING against Yairi, but unless it's a geographical impossibility, or the guitar store owner is your brother-in-law (or some other relative) LOOK ELSEWHERE FIRST. You can always go back if satisfied but 900 is TOO much for a guitar to which you've compared no other.

JH

Subject: RE: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: GUEST,eric
Date: 12 Jan 01 - 04:32 PM

Here in the UK they are sold as K Yairi - I have a DY 52. The DY 45 here is a solid spruce top with Cherry wood back and sides [laminate] and a mahogany neck. List price is £550 - based on the discount for cash I got on mine they could be got for around £400 to £450. They are nice as a second guitar [but I am strictly an amateur "basher" so mine do not get much wear and tear]but the price seems high if the model is the same.

Subject: RE: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: GUEST,R-Nutz
Date: 08 Apr 06 - 01:35 PM

If this is a new one, I'd say it's a little high. If it's a used one, it's way high.

Subject: RE: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 08 Apr 06 - 01:37 PM

Proof that not all old threads are worth refreshing

Subject: RE: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: wysiwyg
Date: 08 Apr 06 - 01:58 PM

CH, I am sure that GUEST,R-Nutz has no idea that Rick Fielding has passed away. We have to realize that old threads like this ARE going to be refershed when someone uses Mudcat's search capabilities in areas of interest, and find they have something to add to an old discussion. That's one reason we HAVE the archive of music threads as "live" material.

GUEST,R-Nutz, if you are new to Mudcat, welcome. You may find some of the older threads' date order messed up; to straighten out any you find like that, just click the "Printer Friendly" link at the top of the thread to read it in order, then click "Back to Thread" (at the top) to post.

~Susan

Subject: RE: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 08 Apr 06 - 02:06 PM

Ricks death has nothing to do with the current irrelevancy of this thread...

Especially given that this thread seems to be a 'snippet' of some other disjointed conversation....

The Elderly 'add' is no longer available... and the other 2 urls are 404....

If it's threads of this 'quality' holding up the well overdue repair to Mudcat, I submit that someone's priorities are pretty skewed....

Subject: RE: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: GUEST,James
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 01:15 AM

Parson,

Well, if it's like this one:

http://exceptionalguitars.com/inventory/detail?sn=AYFT041040

I can highly recommend it. I've had one since 1987, and it still sounds great. I always get comments on the color too. Back then, the retail was about $700 US. So if it's in good condition, I'd say you found a good deal. I am not one for flashy instruments, but this one has some very nice subtle details that really set it apart (tiny abalone inlays on the pegs for instance). Sounds every bit as good as a Martin.

Cheers,

James

Subject: RE: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: GUEST,James
Date: 05 Jan 07 - 01:26 AM

Oh, no. I didn't see the date on this. WTF? I am sorry. Well, I agree with Clinton - this string should be deleted. How sad.

Subject: RE: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: GUEST,Jim
Date: 29 Jun 08 - 11:17 PM

They are nice, I know where one is lurking in a local guitarshop, nearby, it needs to be cleaned up, they have laminate sides, but are handmade and sound great. Should go for $500 at most
Jim

Subject: RE: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: GUEST,erinmaidin
Date: 30 Jun 08 - 06:55 PM

Every now and again I see something about an Alvarez/Yairi that makes me long for my first guitar. Around '69 or '70 my parents finally bought me a guitar...I'd been begging for about 10 yrs. by that time. Anyway, it was an Alvarez and I loved it. Learned to play on it, took it everywhere with me, wrote my first songs on it, sang lullabies to my children with it, it was an extension of me (I'm sure many of you can relate). Went to Toronto with it in the late '90s and tragically, it was stolen out of a back of a van. Van with tinted windows, locked and left for no more than 10/15 minutes while we locked up. Windows broken out and poof...it was gone. I've never forgotten it and think of it everyday. Would love to see it again. Have pictures of it and it had one easily identifiable feature that I won't mention here for all of the obvious reasons. However, a partial description of it would be, bright deep red front with the usual "braiding" around the soundhole and dark woodgrain sides and back. Oh yes, and it was a classical.

Subject: RE: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: GUEST,Mike
Date: 05 Dec 09 - 08:06 PM

I bought one in 1995...$1200.00 I tried a D28 beside it and the Yari had a better mid and treble than the D28. The Martin had the usual deep bass but the Yari sounded better to me when flat pickin. And it was a thousand less than the martin, I still have it and I am very happy with it......

Subject: RE: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: GUEST,van lingle
Date: 06 Dec 09 - 10:54 AM

Takes me back. About 30 years ago I gave a DY-45 to a friend to settle a $200 debt (the same price I paid for it at a pawn shop off Dupont Circle in D.C.). It was and is an awesome instrument.

Subject: RE: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: GUEST,Monica
Date: 29 May 10 - 09:49 PM

Don't know if you ever ended up buying the Yairi DY45, but I've got one, very close in serial number, and it's a beautiful guitar in every way. I'll never part with it. $900 does seem high, though, I'd say 6-7 is the value now. (I know this post is old, but I found it interesting!)

Subject: RE: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Aug 10 - 04:30 PM

My parents gave me a DY-45 when I was a senior in high school in 1980 and it was about a $1,300 guitar at the time. I've had it ever since and it is one of my most cherished possessions. I cannot imagine parting with it. Every once in a while I try new guitars in the shops and really, I haven't found a comparable guitar for less than $2,000.

Subject: RE: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: GUEST,Rdelc59
Date: 30 Oct 10 - 04:19 AM

I own a DY-45 I bought in 1981. I paid $475.00 back then. Starting to get a little wear on the fret but the sound...there is nothing like it. If I could find one in pretty good shape I would spend 900.00 for it. They are that good. Just my opinion.

[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: GUEST,Clay
Date: 29 Nov 10 - 09:15 PM

I bought a DY-45 new in 1982. I still have it today and will never part with it. I added a fishman pickup under the saddle a long time ago and it works well. It's a beautiful instrument with nice warm tones.

Subject: RE: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: Bobert
Date: 29 Nov 10 - 10:17 PM

'Bout 25 years ago I bought a S. Yairi parlor guitar at a pawn shop fir like, ahhhh, 40 bucks... Sounded and played great... Then my son, who was livin' with his mother, asked me for a guitar and it was btween the Yairi and my '66 Martin D-18???

So the Yairi went off to live with my son for the next ten years where it lived in terrible conditions and when I got it back the top was bowed, the bracing unglued and virtually unplayable... Since gettin' it back it sat in my barn, not cased, but not getting rained but...

...having given my Martin to my great niece (she plays great for 16) I decided to have the ol' Yairi repaired so off to Picker's Supply in Fredricksburg, Virginia and after layin' out $300 to my luthier got it back in playable shape with a used pickup in it, to boot...

May not be an Alvarez, but hey, nice playing and nice sopunding 60's geetar, none the less...

B~

Subject: RE: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: GUEST,Bryan
Date: 10 Jan 11 - 06:36 PM

I still have a DY45AV that I bought new in 1992. Other than the neck being a tad narrow for my liking, the guitar has an awesome amplified sound! It has gotten better in the past 19 years and I highly recommend one. I use it on stage and get a lot of compliments about it. If you want a non- amplified acousic, then I would go with a Martin. You can always Mic it if you need to. Worh noting, I own an 87' Seagull Cedar top that I bought new. Unamplified it beats the Yairi hands down in tonal quality and volume, and it was a $300 guitar new as opposed to the $1200 Yairi.....

Subject: RE: Help Quick! Alvarez Yairi???
From: GUEST
Date: 27 Jan 11 - 12:33 PM

I have a Alvarez Yairi dy45av 1992 signed by lengendary country singer carl smith who was married to june carter and was best friends with jonny cash can anybody tell me its worth