Alvarez GYM70CESHB Yairi Masterworks Acoustic Guitar Shadowburst Gloss Alvarez

The Alvarez partnership with the Yairi family of luthiers in Kani, Japan is a cherished part of our 55-year history. Kazuo Yairi’s influence can be seen and heard in every guitar we make, from his innovations in bracing and instrumental architecture to his knowledge of tonewoods and their specific attributes and characteristics. Alvarez-Yairi represents our flagship guitars, where each instrument is treated and prepared as a handmade work of art. Each brace is carved by hand, each neck is spokeshaved to perfection. Tonewoods of the highest grade are naturally seasoned for years to decades before being used in the production process.

The GYM70CESHB features our FST2 bracing system, a very forward shifted X-brace design which was the result of years of research and development. FST2 features center scooped scalloping to the main braces and asymmetric scalloping to the two tone bars. In this way, we optimize the separation between each string and maximize balance and projection.

Grand Auditoriums like the GYM70CESHB are perfect all-round instruments, adept at both strumming and fingerpicking and ideal for a guitarist needing a guitar that can do it all. The GYM70CESHB has been carefully designed to take advantage of the Grand Auditorium’s best properties and is fitted with the LR Baggs VTC system with Element pick up and soundhole console.

Further innovation comes with the Direct Coupled Bridge. This system displays the craftsmanship with which these guitars are made. The DC Bridge means the pins actually go into the top of the guitar, taking the vibration to the heart of the soundboard and simultaneously increasing the break angle from the saddle to the top. This increased down pressure raises string tension, giving the guitar a very responsive feel and adding quality to its volume and sustain. Other presentments include hand cut and assembled pearl and abalone inlays, ivoroid binding, ebony fingerboard, ebony bridge and ebony bridge pins.

Like all Yairi Masterworks, this guitar is made from premium tonewood that has been seasoned naturally for 5 to 15 years in the perfect climate of Kani. Kani is in the prefecture of Gifu in the hills north of Nagoya. This wood preparation and environment for building guitars is very important to the structural integrity of the instrument and helps to ensure decades of stability and performance from your Yairi. Experiencing an Alvarez-Yairi is to experience the very passion that drives us. These are truly marquis instruments and represent what’s at the heart of the Alvarez culture: Continual improvement and attention to detail that will give our players a lifetime of musical fulfillment.