Alvarez msb1

[andyaber]

This is what I'm playing at the moment.  After a few years of not playing at all, I took this out of its bag a week or so ago.  I haven't bothered with either of my electrics yet, just been noodling on this.  The scale length is only abot 27" and the body is tiny and just over 3"deep.  The label says made in China but the build quality is excellent.  The satin finish is superb and it must be just about the smoothest neck i've played.

 

It wasn't quite right when I bought it, the passive pick up was rattling around inside, so I reglued it.  It had phosphor bronze strings and was tuned EADG. This gave about equal parts string noise to music.  I've changed to lighter nylon tape wound strings and it is now tuned ADGC.  Great fun to play.

[LeftyJ]

Looks cool! The proportions are weird, with that tiny dreadnought body and that long neck, but it looks like a ton of fun!

 

Alvarez is indeed great. I had a ABT60 baritone g**t*r for a while. It was HUGE, with a 27 23/32" scale and a ginormous jumbo body. I had it tuned to B with very heavy strings (I think the lowest was a .072") and I loved the huge tone I got out of it. 

[andyaber]

Hi  Lefty.  All reviews of Alvarez stuff are good.  I'd never heard of them til I came across these.  There was or maybe still is a company called icoustic who fitted an amp inside the msb1 and a speaker fitted in the sound hole.  Interesting but expensive I seem to remember.

[MiniBass]

Hi, I also own an Alvarez MSB1. i picked it up a year or so ago and love playing it. I would like to change the refresh the strings and hopefully this will remove the small amount of fret buzz on the E strings (unless it needs a full service). 

I am curious to know which strings you have found to fit this size acoustic bass appropriately? and the those black strings sure do look the part of your Alvarez! 

any info appreciated. :) 

[andyaber]

Hi Minibass.

 

Glad you like yours, they are great fun to play.  The materials, build quality and silky smooth finish are worthy of a much more expensive instrument.

 

I put Daddario black nylon wounds on mine, I cut down a set of 34" scale strings.  I didn't like the string noise from the std bronze strings.  I was wondering about flat wounds but I'm happy with the nylon wounds.  I bought roughly the same gauge as standard but then changed the tuning to ADGC.  I took a guess for the gauge of the C string and bought a single string.

 

Have fun, Andy.