A beginner's guitar doesn't have to sound like it. The Alvarez Regent Series RD8 guitar is designed to turn aspiring students into great guitarists. Features include a select spruce top, mahogany back and sides and rosewood fingerboard with dot inlays.
Featured review by:
jmac72187, on february 27, 2006 2 of 2 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 100
Purchased from: Used
Features: Mine was maufactured in 2005. It was made in China. There are 20 frets. It has a rosewood fingerboard. The guitars wood is laminated top and sides. The top of the guitar is spruce and the sides and back are mahogany. It has a natural finish that looks pretty good. The tuners are just simple die cast tuners. They seem to work pretty well. The guitar included a very nice hard case that I would have paid extra for. It is very padded and seems very durable. // 10
Sound: This pretty much suits my acoustic music style. I mostly play electric but sometime I just like to pull the acoustic out and play. The guitar sounds very good. Most people that I have talked to or heard about the guitar from say that the sound the guitar has surprised them for a lower priced guitar. It compares to many more expensive guitars that can cost more then $500. // 10
Action, Fit & Finish: The guitar came pretty good. I got it used though so I cannot rate how it came from the factory. The last owner never really used it though so it should be close to factory standards. The action is a little high on the higher frets. I can set it up with some new strings and change the action and it will be just fine. // 9
Reliability & Durability: This guitar would withstand live playing. The tuners seem like they might need to be replaced a little later on down the road. It's a pretty solid felling guitar. I have only played a few acoustics and this is one of my favorites. // 9
Impression: I play mostly any time of music on acoustic. On my electric I play mostly heavy rock. I have been playing almost a year now. The rest of my equipment is mostly electric guitar stuff. If this guitar were lost or stolen, I would probably buy it again if I were looking for an acoustic. This guitar is the whole package for only about $200. // 9
Reviewed by:
outtolunch, on december 14, 2006 1 of 1 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 99.99
Purchased from: e-bay
Features: I got mine off of e-bay in April of 2006. It was new (I think) but the guy said that he had to advertise it as used cause he was a certified dealer or something. It was in almost perfect condition (just one little bump on the back of the headstock. It has a 20 fret very pretty rosewood neck. It's dot inlayes look somthing like peral but I'm not sure. The back and sides are mohagony, the top is spruce, and the finish is natural. It had chrome die-cast tuning knobs that stay in tune very well. After about 2 months of playing it always goes down a half step wich I fine cause I don't play with it in a band. It's a dreadnought with multiple body bindings (I honestly don't know what that means but dreadnought is sure fun to say). // 9
Sound: With good new strings on it I'd say that you could hardly tell a difference to a better Alvarez, Takamine, or Martin. On the low E A and D strings, you can't get that good of a sound if you go above about 12 frets, but you can sound a lot like a banjo if you play by the bridge. It gets pretty good harmonics too. The sound was a pleasent surprise like when your parents say that you can Live in their basement! // 10
Action, Fit & Finish: The action was perfect, neck straight, bridge set up good, no complaints. The finish was really pretty too. I've banged it up a lot but it atill plays about perfect. No problems ever. The neck is amazing, my favorite part about it. It's silky smooth and really fast. // 10
Reliability & Durability: This guitar would definately gigable (that's really fun to say) without need of a backup (unless you try to do the swing around your head thing or smash it on the ground). It only had the strap button one the butox of the body buy I just put nail instead trying to put another button in it. I've bumped it a lot (like the time I was playing on the tiolet and dropped my pik down the tiolet) so it looks pretty banged up but it plays like a whistle. // 9
Impression: I this guitar I play anything from open chords while I'm singing, to Dueling Banjos, to acoustc hits like Swing Life Away and some Foo Fightrs stuff. I love pretty much everything and wouldn't change anything really. If it was stolen I'd either try to find another one in mint condition for half the price, or get a Martin or Takemine. // 10
Reviewed by:
TonyRandall, on november 08, 2007 0 of 0 people found this review helpful
Price paid: $ 199.99
Purchased from: Music123.com
Features: Mahogany back and sides and a spruce top, this guitar is definately the best acoustic I've played under $500. I used to have an Epiphone dove, I wish I still had it, it was a beautiful guitar but it definately didn't sound as nice as this one. This guitar is beautiful too. I don't know if it was just mine, but the top had kind of a quilted grain. It is beautiful. The rosette is lovely, the binding looks very good also. It was made in China, which I have no problem with, if it were made in America, I would expect a price around $500 or higher. It is a dreadnaught, one of the reasons I bought it, if I hadnt I would have wanted a sharp cutaway. The tuners are decent, they are the only reason I gave it a nine for features, those and the bridge pins, the saddle and the nut. I would have been happier with grovers, but I'm not complaining about that, for 200 bucks I couldnt ask for more. I'm planning on replacing the tuners with gold grovers anyway, I love gold hardware and they will make this guitar more beautiful. It will definately be a 10 for features after that replcement, but stock it is a good 9. The nut and saddle isn't high quality, I replaced them, they aren't bad, it is just a personal prefference. It did come with a nice hard shell case that I wouldn't have minded paying a little more for. It is probably worth $50 or $60 bucks. // 9
Sound: I gave this a 9 for sound. It came with elixir nanowebs, which are (relativly) expensive strings, I liked them, but I replaced them when they got dull in sound for Ernie Ball rock and blues. Those are only 5 bucks and sound just as good on this guitar. The natural harmonics on this guitar are nice and clear. I never put this baby down, she is perfect for every kind of music I want to play. Rock, blues, folk, anything I want, I know I can rely on Irene. // 9
Action, Fit & Finish: The factory setup on this guitar was playable and decent, after about a month, I adjusted the truss rod and got rid of a little (minor) fret buzz. The saddle and nut werent hight quality, as I said, but they werent poorly manufactured, they just werent made out of quality materials. They didn't affect the sound or playability at all. The Finish is beautiful, as I said, mine had a mild quilt which made me very pleased, for under 200 dollars, that was much more than I could have asked for. Alvarez did a great job with this instrument. When I get more experienced with inlay, I'm going to do a custom inlay job on this guitar, the dots aren't bad, I just want a better inlay, I feel that they are the only average part of it's appearance. // 9
Reliability & Durability: I got this guitar for an acoustic that I could take with me everywhere and not mind if it got dinged up, but when I saw it those plans vanished, this guitar is meant for a beginner, but I've been playing for about 4 or 5 years and wouldn't call myself a beginner or even intermediate, I'd say I'm probably almost advanced, and this guitar doesnt't lack anything. I would definately gig with it, it sounds very nice and I wouldn't be embarrassed by it's looks, I brag about this guitar a lot. This would definately make a great beginners guitar, I wish I could have started on this, but for the better of the guitarists Who just want a guitar that's fun to own and play I would recommend this. It is great for the musicians on a budget (low money was the main reason I bought this, I didn't have much money after buying a car). // 10
Impression: I play rock and blues mostly, and this acoustic is perfect for me, when I'm not playing my electrics I can cound on this baby to be there. I have been playing for about 5 years. The only thing that I find that this guitar lacks is a quality saddle and nut. But these don't affect sound, so they are fine, I replaced mine, but only for the rights to say that I have a tusq saddle and nut on it. I love everything else about this guitar. Overall, I give it a 10, I don't think I could dock it in overall value for it not having my exact prefferences. It makes up for everything with its sound and appearance. // 10
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