Alvarez Artist 66 Series AD66SHB Dreadnought Acoustic Guitar, Rosewood Fingerboard, Shadowburst

The '66 models are beautifully finished and have a deep glass-like shine. The vintage sunburst on Mahogany brings out the grain to create a warm look to match its tone. Alvarez mahogany top guitars have a focused sound with strong mids, great for recording and live work. Artist Series is now "The Award Winning Artist Series" - winning competitions and receiving rave reviews in the States, Europe and around the world. It's a truly designed line of guitars that stands tall and sounds sweet in the solid top guitar market. Hand selected solid tops; forward shifted scalloped bracing, awesome tone and player experience.

The term "solid top" of course refers to the soundboard of an acoustic guitar being made of solid wood, rather than being laminated. However, just because the top is solid, it does not necessarily mean the sound automatically benefits from this feature. The tone of the instrument only improves significantly when the whole guitar is built correctly to really release the energy a solid soundboard can generate. Artist Series is built to do exactly this. Each model is designed to get the best out if its components and for them to work together to produce a tone and player experience, rarely found in affordable instruments. These components include Alvarez FST2M bracing system, bi-level bridge, real bone nut and great quality tone woods.

FSTM is a forward shifted X brace design. Both the X braces and asymmetric tone bars are scalloped. Moving the system forward allows for a larger soundboard, which is optimized with a solid maple bridge plate for both strength and energy. The sound is warm, open and powerful and both the treble and bass registers are clearly present and balanced in relation to each other. These guitars feel right and are exciting to play and responsive. Dig in and they shout right back at you, treat them gently and they whisper and respond instantly to the lightest strum or pick.

The solid 'A' grade Sitka spruce and cedar tops are hand selected from quarter-sawn wood. This ensures consistent quality and its no secret better guitars are made from better wood. Alvarez tops not only look great but they are stiff and strong and finely grained. New Artist Series guitars look stunning and come in a huge variety of shapes, colors and wood choices from standard OM and Dreadnought models to more specialist instruments such as Baritone and Parlor. Each shape is also available in a left-handed version.