(Ok so I got it a week ago but didn't get round to taking pics)
Two instruments in less than a month. It's a record for me.
I'd been toying with getting a steel-string acoustic. I realised I needed one for recording. But it wasn't my top priority. Then I saw this at Music Experience. It ticks so many boxes for me. I wanted a guitar with great string to string balance for finger picking, I've always loved the parlour shape, 12th fret neck join, it has a slotted headstock - which I love - and it has a solid top.
Then it went on special.
The price of this guitar (around R4,700) is ridiculous given the quality and sound. High quality guitars are truly being made in China now. This Alvarez AP70E is one of the best sounding acoustics I've played. And yet the price tag puts it at budget level. There was simply nothing to compare at the equivalent price 20 years ago.
It's rapidly becoming my 2nd favourite guitar. As a pro guitar player told me recently, what makes a great guitar is not any particular feature. It's when the guitar just works - nothing fights you. That's how it is for me with this little guitar.
The sound of it just makes me want to play - even though it still has the shitty shop-soiled strings on it. If it sounds like this new, I can only imagine what it'll sound like in 10 years time.
Surprisingly, I went with the version with the pickup. It was more because it had a slight edge in tone on the acoustic only example they had - although it sounded good too (and had a flamey spruce top). It might come in handy for performance using something like a Fishman Aura pedal (I loathe the sound of a straight piezo).
