Are there any guitar aficionados/experts in the house?

[Ryan78]

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.

I think it might be all solid. The other ones I found were all solid.

 

[Aries]

Thanks.

Can you be more specific?

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

You need to take it to a music store to have it adjusted, it's not something you want to try unless you know what you're doing. But in the pictures, the strings look a little high the closer you get to the body of the guitar. The neck will sometimes bow, which raises the end with the tuning keys higher than the body, which makes the strings higher above the fretboard on the body end. It can also bend the opposite way, so that it's too low in the middle of the neck. Again, usually just an adjustment.

There's a rod inside the neck that can be turned to increase or decrease the amount of bow in the neck. It's a pretty simple adjustment, and anyone who works on guitars can do it, but you need to know what you're doing. There are tons of YouTube videos that can explain and demonstrate it better than I can. Search maybe "truss rod adjustment".

It is also possible that it's solid wood... If it is, I'm a little surprised, but it very well could be. Alvarez has traditionally made pretty decent guitars for the money, so if it is, it might be a very nice guitar. I also found a couple of examples on the internet in the $350 to $500 range, none of them said "solid wood" which usually means it's laminated... but it's very possible that it's solid.

I'm not sure which number is the serial number. I can see the model number on the sticker and another number beside it... but I can't read how it's labeled. Is there another number besides those two on the sticker? I'd lean toward the number on the sticker, but a lot of manufacturers stamp them on the heel similar to that one. No idea why they would put two numbers in it... one possibility is that the neck has been replaced, but that doesn't seem very likely, and since it was your brother's guitar you'd probably know if it has.

I can't tell where you're located, but if you're in the Tulsa area I would recommend Running Dogs Music in Broken Arrow. Rick Williams can tell you a lot by looking at it, and he won't recommend work it doesn't need, or charge you unnecessarily, and if it does need work he's very reasonable. And he can do any repair work it might need. For example, broken braces on the back of the sound board will also make the strings high, he can inspect for that and can repair if necessary. He is an Alvarez dealer, but hasn't been for very long so he may not be familiar with the history of that model, but can tell you a lot by looking at it.

But pretty much any store that does repair work can do most or all of that.

 

[KOPBET]

As suggested, I sent a message to Alvarez via their website.

Response:
"there are no serialized records of these older models"

"The tuning machines & truss rod cover point towards mid 70’s. Most of these had a 3 piece back but there was 1 factory that sent out ones like this 1. The only value we can offer is a MSRP of $199 circa 1975."

 

[Aries]

As suggested, I sent a message to Alvarez via their website.

Response:
"there are no serialized records of these older models"

"The tuning machines & truss rod cover point towards mid 70’s. Most of these had a 3 piece back but there was 1 factory that sent out ones like this 1. The only value we can offer is a MSRP of $199 circa 1975."

FWIW I bought a Yamaha in 1975 for $199. That was my cost, so MSRP may have been slightly higher. While I haven't seen it for 35 years, I'm pretty sure it was all laminated. That doesn't prove yours is, but it sounds like it's about that price point.

 

[KOPBET]

FWIW I bought a Yamaha in 1975 for $199. That was my cost, so MSRP may have been slightly higher. While I haven't seen it for 35 years, I'm pretty sure it was all laminated. That doesn't prove yours is, but it sounds like it's about that price point.

MSRP in 1975 is pretty much meaningless to me. I'm not really concerned about laminated or not. It might lower the resale price some, but it is what it is.