Alvarez Guitars

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Alvarez is a high-quality acoustic guitar manufacturer which consistently ranks among the most popular acoustic instrument brands in the world.^{[citation needed]} They also manufacture classical guitars, such as the Alvarez Yairi line. In the past, Alvarez also manufactured a line of electric guitars, many of which were copies of more prominent brands, though there were a few original designs in their line-up (including the strange Dana Scoop, a superstrat-like guitar with a single triple-coil humbucking pickup in the bridge position and a single-coil pickup in the neck position, 5-way switching, Floyd Rose vibrato, 6-in-line drooped/pointy or 3+3 "blade" headstocks, maple (or rosewood) fretboard with black (or white) rectangular block fingerboard inlays and a radically elongated lower cutaway). Some Scoops were available with a pickguard and a conventional SSS pickup configuration.

Alvarez replaced Westone in 1991. Today, the brand is owned by LOUD Technologies, which also owns Mackie, Ampeg, Crate and other music-related brands. While many of its models are produced in China, the top-tier Alvarez-Yairi instruments are hand-made by Kazou Yairi at the Yairi factory in Kani, Gifu-Japan.