Alvarez RD20S vs. Ibanez AW120RDV

[Heavy As Stone]

Hello everyone. I am new to these forums, but lurk often and am active on other DMB boards. Any help with the situation is appreciated. I will give my story and then my situation.

My sister-in-law studied abroad in Germany last semester, and while she was gone, I borrowed her guitar and played it. Now that she's back, I wanted to get one of my own, and made sure my parents knew before Christmas. They ended up getting me an Alvarez RD20S, even though I told then that I would rather pick the guitar on my own, but thats my parents for you. Anyway, I like the guitar, but was/am hesitant for two main reasons. First, I didn't get the chance to play around and pick it on my own. Second, and this may be in my mind as a result of the first, I am almost afraid that it has a somewhat "tinny" sound to it, if that makes any sense. They spent around $250 for it. I like it better than the Seagull that my sis-in-law had.

Yesterday I was in town so we went over to the guitar store where my dad bought it just to see what they had. I will admit, for the price, I would've bought the same guitar in that store. While its not a bad shop, they had a somewhat lacking acoustic selection. For the $400 and under price range, they didn't have much. In fact, I played every guitar they had that was priced between the one they bought and $420, and that was the first noticable sound difference. So I was a bit frustrated.

Today, my wife and I dropped by Guitar Center and I played around on a bunch of guitars there, but am unsure where to go. The girl there didn't seem to be quite knowledgable enough for me to trust her opinion. One guitar that I liked somewhat for $350 was an Ibanez AW120-RDV. I liked the finish on it MUCH better than I do the Alvarez. It has a nice "red violin" color to it, and a somewhat less shiny finish. It might show a few more dings with time, but I still like the way it looks better. As far as sound goes, it is hard to say without having both there to play together, but I thought that the sound had more bass to it, and not so much of the tinny sound of the Alvarez.

However, I really don't know what I am talking about when it comes to Acoustic guitars. What do you guys think? Between those two guitars - Alvarez RD20S and Ibanez AW120RDV - which would you pick and why? Anyone have any direct experience with those?

[bassman462]

well one, though it is nice to have a nice looking guitar, it has nothing to do with qualitie of it. and for me alvarez is by far my favorite, and would recommend any ibanez. I don't know what you are thinking about the two sounds, but one thing you might want to look at is the gauge of the strings. it could be that the elixers on a new alvarez are smaller then the stock strings on an ibanez. my personal expeirence and opinion shows that there's a little lack of quality in ibanez, but for that price range there isn't going to be too big of a difference.

another thing that can affect the guitar is if it's set up, it could be that the alvarez has bad action, and the ibanez just had better action. so let me ask, did you find it easier to press down the strings while strumming and picking with the ibanez then the alvarez? if so the action might be the problem. truly, it is common belief that alvarez is better then ibanez, but personal oppinion overides that, because it really does come down to what you want/like.

[checkii]

im not reading your post. but the alvarez rd20 is decent. and i have never heard an ibanez acoustic that sounded better than dog shit.

I would suggest for a very minimal amount more, to get the AD60. for like $100 more you get a much nicer guitar.

[sfmartins]

im not reading your post. but the alvarez rd20 is decent. and i have never heard an ibanez acoustic that sounded better than dog shit.

I would suggest for a very minimal amount more, to get the AD60. for like $100 more you get a much nicer guitar.

I actually read your post and agree with check, that Ibanez acoustic guitars are probably not a nice option.

I would stick for now with the Alvarez and save to buy a medium-high end guitar later on. Use the Alvarez right now to develop your skills and "to try everything". Later, if you feel like going forward with guitar playing, buy a nice one.

Just my opinion.

[Heavy As Stone]

How much can one expect to spend on a "nice" guitar. Not top of the line, but "nice"

[sfmartins]

You can get a all solid Larivee for ~$800. A nice Martin/Taylor would probably be closer to $1500-2000 though

Check here:

http://www.dmbtabs.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=28021

[checkii]

You can get this alvarez for $269.
the cutaway is probably the same price:

http://www.playbetterbluegrass.com/alva ... 9_prd1.htm

[myxomatosis]

You can get a all solid Larivee for ~$800.

you can get an all solid Larivee used for about $600