Are there any guitar aficionados/experts in the house?

[KOPBET]

Specifically, an Alvarez.

I have a nice, inherited 5043 I'm trying to find out some information on.

Such as approximate age, market value, other general info such as wood type, etc. Google is all over the place.

There is a stamped number on the heel block and a different one on a label under the sound hole as well. Not sure which is the serial number.

Made in Japan. I think it is a dreadnaught style, the neck is attached at the 14th fret.

I do not play so I would like to pass it on to someone who could enjoy it.

I can post pics if needed.

 

[Big House]

Facebook has a ton of guitar pages with highly knowledgeable people on them. Some of those knowledgeable people are very well known in the business. You can also look on Reverb.com and search your model to get an idea of worth.

 

[Big House]

When did you inherit it?

 

[KOPBET]

When did you inherit it?

It was 2018 when my brother died.

 

[Big House]

It was 2018 when my brother died.

Go to Alvarez website and send them an email with the guitars information. I'm pretty sure they'll reply with the information you are looking for. I'm sorry that your brother passed. My condolences

 

[hipshot]

It’s hard to put a value on a guitar without playing it first, Alvarez had cheap guitars and some very nice guitars, The 5043 retails around 500.00 I would think if it was straight and not beat up or abused, also does it have a hard or soft case with it ? Maybe I can get you a little better idea from pics, with at least one pic of the action ( strings distance from frets and fingerboard from nut to end.

 

[KOPBET]

It’s hard to put a value on a guitar without playing it first, Alvarez had cheap guitars and some very nice guitars, The 5043 retails around 500.00 I would think if it was straight and not beat up or abused, also does it have a hard or soft case with it ? Maybe I can get you a little better idea from pics, with at least one pic of the action ( strings distance from frets and fingerboard from nut to end.

I'll get more pics, but this is a starter.

 

[KOPBET]

More.

 

[Aries]

It is definitely a dreadnought

Looks like spruce top and rosewood back and sides, and most that I found listed, that was the material.

Most likely laminated. Could be a solid top and laminated back and sides. But I seriously doubt it's all solid wood.

You can tell if the back and sides are laminated by spotting some variation in the wood grain, like a dark spot (knot or something) or something unique in the grain on the outside, and see if the same pattern appears on the inside. If it does it's probably solid wood, if it doesn't, it's probably laminated. You can tell if the top is laminated by looking at the edges of the soundhole, but that's a little harder to spot. Any music store could probably look at it and tell you pretty easily.

Probably made somewhere around 1980 ish. Alvarez has used serial numbers that had the manufacture date encoded, usually the first and second number are the year and the third and fourth number are the month. But it's hard to say that they did that on every model through out history.

As stated above, Alvarez makes everything from entry level to hand made solid wood guitars. Emailing Alvarez is worth a shot, I have done that with other manufacturers and gotten an entire specification list for a specific guitar, but Alvarez records may not be that complete.

From the pictures, it looks like it could use some neck adjustment.

 

[KOPBET]

... From the pictures, it looks like it could use some neck adjustment.

Thanks.

Can you be more specific?

Also, which number is the S/N? Heel block or label?