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Post by billhammond on Mar 11, 2023 1:10:02 GMT -5
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Post by brucemacneill on Mar 11, 2023 7:14:34 GMT -5
My classical guitar is a Alvarez Yairi CY116 from 1990 and it's a professional quality guitar. I just checked and used ones still sell for more than Mary paid for mine back in 1990. I was left alone at The Gitfiddler store in Michigan to play anything I wanted to try so I played classicals from $200 to $1500 and the CY116 was better than some of the higher end stuff so that's what I put on my Christmas list.
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Post by drlj on Mar 11, 2023 8:29:50 GMT -5
I’ve always found their bridge and saddle interesting.
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Post by PaulKay on Mar 11, 2023 9:04:16 GMT -5
I’ve never been fond of guitars without fretboard markers.
Looks cleaner for sure, but not as practical.
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Post by Marshall on Mar 11, 2023 9:09:57 GMT -5
That guy sure likes to talk.
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Post by billhammond on Mar 11, 2023 9:14:15 GMT -5
My classical guitar is a Alvarez Yairi CY116 from 1990 and it's a professional quality guitar. I just checked and used ones still sell for more than Mary paid for mine back in 1990. I was left alone at The Gitfiddler store in Michigan to play anything I wanted to try so I played classicals from $200 to $1500 and the CY116 was better than some of the higher end stuff so that's what I put on my Christmas list. Seems to me that back in the day, what they were known for was super-exacting tolerances and build quality, which presumably was where the great tone and playability came from, along with their excellent woods. I've owned and enjoyed at least one Alvarez, but never a Yairi. |
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Post by billhammond on Mar 11, 2023 9:24:34 GMT -5
I’ve never been fond of guitars without fretboard markers. Looks cleaner for sure, but not as practical. Easily added, though. |
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Post by Marty on Mar 11, 2023 9:38:28 GMT -5
I’ve never been fond of guitars without fretboard markers. Looks cleaner for sure, but not as practical. Easily added, though. Make sure you get the nozzle of the spray can REAL close to the fingerboard. One quick little burst should do the trick. |
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Post by drlj on Mar 11, 2023 9:44:46 GMT -5
I’ve never been fond of guitars without fretboard markers. Looks cleaner for sure, but not as practical. My Langejans has no fret markers. It has the side dots. Fret markers can look nice, but I don’t find them in anyway necessary. I can be just as lost with or without them. |
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
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Post by Dub on Mar 11, 2023 10:15:13 GMT -5
Neither my Kennedy archtop nor my Martin D-28CW have fretboard markers. I’m the only one who never notices. I never bend over my guitar to play it. I’m an old guitarist but not The Old Guitarist. I think they look nice. |
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Post by John B on Mar 11, 2023 10:32:35 GMT -5
My acoustic that I built doesn't have markers on the fretboard because I was running behind in class and I didn't want to spend the time to add dots (much less anything fancier). And I spent a bunch of time, like a good chunk of a day, fixing a marker on my electric when I accidentally drilled the hole for the dot slightly off center (which involved making a plug by hand from similarly-grained cutoffs from the FB).
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Post by John B on Mar 11, 2023 10:42:52 GMT -5
I'll have to ask some co-workers how they would pronounce Yairi. I would have thought "Ya - eerie" would make sense, "Ya - yeerie" a little less so. But I never really thought about how to pronounce it; I never said the name, just read it. I would probably say "Yar-ee" before seeing this video.
From what I remember about them in the 90's, Alvarez was a decent brand but the A-Y guitars were a cut above. Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead had a signature model. I assume there is something positive about the bridge design, or they wouldn't keep using it given the precision needed to do it properly - which is probably also why no one else has copied it. I think half (or more than half) of the time a new bridge design is really about the aesthetics and not any particular acoustic advantage.
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Dub
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I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
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Post by Dub on Mar 11, 2023 11:30:01 GMT -5
I tried, I did, but finally gave up around 75% through.
I’ve long thought highly of Alvarez-Yairi guitars but have zero interest in that one.
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Post by John B on Mar 11, 2023 12:33:24 GMT -5
I tried, I did, but finally gave up around 75% through. I’ve long thought highly of Alvarez-Yairi guitars but have zero interest in that one. I dunno. It looks pretty nice. But seeing it gives me a hankering for a Martin 111, or a 333. |
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
Posts: 19,958
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Post by Dub on Mar 11, 2023 12:38:02 GMT -5
I tried, I did, but finally gave up around 75% through. I’ve long thought highly of Alvarez-Yairi guitars but have zero interest in that one. I dunno. It looks pretty nice. But seeing it gives me a hankering for a Martin 111, or a 333. It’s gorgeous. I would long to have it except for the 12 fret limitation, the wide fretboard, and the slotted headstock which looks lovely but I’d rather not deal with. On edit: I’d pay extra if I didn’t have to listen to that guy. |
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Post by John B on Mar 11, 2023 13:02:42 GMT -5
I dunno. It looks pretty nice. But seeing it gives me a hankering for a Martin 111, or a 333. It’s gorgeous. I would long to have it except for the 12 fret limitation, the wide fretboard, and the slotted headstock which looks lovely but I’d rather not deal with. On edit: I’d pay extra if I didn’t have to listen to that guy. Have you seen my 7-fret wonder?  |
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
Posts: 19,958
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Post by Dub on Mar 11, 2023 13:09:24 GMT -5
It’s gorgeous. I would long to have it except for the 12 fret limitation, the wide fretboard, and the slotted headstock which looks lovely but I’d rather not deal with. On edit: I’d pay extra if I didn’t have to listen to that guy. Have you seen my 7-fret wonder? No, I haven’t. Did you bring that to I-Jam and I missed it? With the bridge where it is, it probably sounds great. |
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Tamarack
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Post by Tamarack on Mar 11, 2023 14:27:48 GMT -5
Bruce - we might have crossed paths at the Gitfiddler. Between 1989 and 1992 I worked in Novi and lived in Ypsilanti. Sometimes stopped by the Gitfiddler on my way home from work. The owner was an evangelist for Taylor, which was new on the scene at the time. Almost bought a Taylor maple jumbo from him. Sadly, the store closed and the location became a Starbucks.
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Post by brucemacneill on Mar 11, 2023 15:30:56 GMT -5
Bruce - we might have crossed paths at the Gitfiddler. Between 1989 and 1992 I worked in Novi and lived in Ypsilanti. Sometimes stopped by the Gitfiddler on my way home from work. The owner was an evangelist for Taylor, which was new on the scene at the time. Almost bought a Taylor maple jumbo from him. Sadly, the store closed and the location became a Starbucks. First guitar store I went to and asked about classicals and the woman said they were downstairs and they had lots of them whereas most stores had maybe 2 or 3. I went down and started looking and a guy came over and asked me if I needed help. I told him I didn't know much about classicals but thought I'd maybe want one. He put down a stool and handed me a guitar so I started playing folkie stuff since I didn't know any classical. He gave me amother that I played and he said "You know what you're doing, try what you want and left me alone. I decided on the CY116. Mary got it for me for Christmas so I went back there and they had Books and stuff on classical so I bought some of those and started trying to teach myself but quickly figured out I'd need a teacher so I called and asked if they knew any classical teachers and the woman said they had 2 so I signed up for lessons and went once a week for an hour each session. I caught on pretty quickly and went for a year but just when it was getting serious I got transferred from Michigan to Pennsylvania and had to quit. I never found a teacher in Pa. for classical but continued working on Leyenda and Requerdos the last 2 I was being taught. A couple of times when I had nail problems and couldn't play well so the class wasn't going to work I brought in my Gibsons and had my teacher help me work on some of the jazz stuff I was playing for years. He was impressed with my abilities and did show me a few more full chords I hadn't known that filled in some dead space. He was impressed with my old L7-C. I had their repair guy refret the L7-C and asked him if he could put a pickup on it but he said if I put a hole in that guitar he's kill me so it stuck with the monkey on a stick. Anyway it was the best guitar store I'd ever been in in my life. We lived in Framington Hills so Novi wasn't too tough to get to. They had a yearly folk festival too. |
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Post by Village Idiot on Mar 11, 2023 22:13:49 GMT -5
I Don't know if my guitar has fret markers or not because I never look for them. But I use the side dots all the time.
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