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Though this is a jazz oriented group many of you own or play dreadnaught style guitars too.
I've always had a fondness for Alvarez Yairi guitars. Over the years I've had many of the upper tier models made of laminated rosewood. This thread is dedicated to the very best, made from solid Jacaranda, not to be confused with other makers versions in laminates.
In my life Ive been Blessed enough to own a few of the highest, the DY96.
These don't come around often and usually demand Martin style prices.
But of the 24 or so ever made I just bought my 3rd, a 1978. I met the seller when he listed a 1978 DY95 vine of life, also solid Jacaranda. After we closed the deal we chatted at length about The Lord and high end Yairis. He told me upon selling the DY95 that the only decent guitar he had left was his '78 DY96 which he used for Christian Outreach with children's classes and at convalescent homes. I told him of my 18 1/2 years doing the same. Being kindred spirits I asked him to promise me if he needed to sell it to contact me and I'd buy it. Well 4 days later he did. Being this guy does Gods Work via music I set him up with a very nice gift, a late 70s solid rosewood BC Rich acoustic so he could continue with his outreach, the guitars are crossing the States as we speak. Gents, I give you the DY95s first. They both are solid Jacaranda back and sides and spruce tops, the pick guards are real tortoise shell. They look the same so I am only listing photos of one, the 2nd one I could not pass up at $1200.00. As I said not to be confused with lesser models by Aria, Takamine, and many other makers that used laminated rosewoods and macassar ebony bodies.
Last edited by BigMikeinNJ; 12-24-2016 at 05:42 PM.
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So, now up a notch to the DY96, I found my first one in 2001 looking at Martin D45 listings on eBay, the guitar was listed as a D45 killer. One look at the high resolution photos and some extensive online research I discovered that Kazuo Yairi, the owner of Alvarez Yairi guitars made these himself, totally one at a time. In 1975 he made his first, in 1976 he made 2, in 1977 he made 3 and in 1978 his most prolific year he made 4. After that his supply of really elegant Jacaranda suitable for solid backs dwindled. He also used one block of Jacarand to do the pick guards and one block of Jacaranda to do the headstock overlays. When you see a couple of the pick guards from year to year you see the similar pattern. The pick guard is flush with the top, meaning that the area for the pick guard was carved DOWN into the top. Check out the delicate marquetry and abalone inlay. Now they're pretty but it's their voice that sets them apart. Like my Unity and American Eagles the sound swirls inside. Kazuo lacquers the inside of the body for sonic purposes. I introduce you to my DY96...
Last edited by BigMikeinNJ; 12-24-2016 at 05:24 PM.
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And lucky me in 2012 right during the madness following Hurricane Sandy blowing thru Jersey I scored what was then my 2nd DY96, a 1985, the last year they made them. As I said the supply of Jacaranda had dwindled and Kazuo had to use a different piece of Jacaranda for the pick guard, the back was also not as stunning. But sonically, even with this oversized pick guard someone foolishly put on it the guitar rang like a bell...
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That is mighty purty purfling! 
Last edited by citizenk74; 12-24-2016 at 06:24 PM.
Reason: Spelling
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Nice stuff Mike. Someones' looking out for you. Guess it's that time of the year.
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Not just dread steels. I've owned two A-Yairi nylons and they were both A+.
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Beautiful Guitar Mike. The attention to detail is increadable
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Let's try those '77 DY96 shots again.
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Oh, man! I have played Yairi guitars since 1964. My father bought a Yairi in Tokyo in 1962 and a second one (also in Tokyo) in 1963. I started learning on the '63 a year later. I have played both guitars through the years and I now own them both. I don't know the models because the labels are in Japanese.
I have always had a soft spot for the AY flattops. The high end models ARE Martin killers...Taylor killers, etc. Played side-by-side against Yamaha, Takamine, etc., you realize that Alvarez-Yairi are the pinnacle of Japanese flattop guitars. (In 1962, when my father was shopping in Japan, Yairi was billed domestically as the top-end of Japanese luthiery.)
Hang on to your 96! They don't come finer.
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while i cannot participate in the old school fanciness like some of the other handsome luminaries in this thread, i am a new member of the club. my years long search for a j45 ended when i picked one of these up:
i am exceedingly pleased. it may be the fanciest feeling and sounding guitar i've ever known, though i've played much more expensive ones. its very clean and austere, yet somehow just a bit more than a little quirky. i guess you could describe the design and build aesthetic as "japanese". mine is actually a pre-production model they sent out to dealers to generate orders. its also one of the last to be autographed by the man himself.
i found these videos fascinating, perhaps you may as well. they were sort of what tipped the scales in favor of the yairi, just seeing those guys going at it with hand tools and stuff. after picking up guitar after guitar that felt cheap, lifeless, poorly finished or constructed, with patchy finish spots, messy binding, fretwork, glue runs, etc or just flat out boring (while generally costing more), the yairi put an end to all that.
sans cheesy narration, weirdly engrossing
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Funny thing about Alvarez Yairi I worked in Palo Alto, CA. from 1978 to 1992 and generally was around there a lot after I moved to San Francisco for school. Draper's Music on California Avenue in Palo Alto was an authorized AY dealer and they had a special corner near the back of the main wing with AYs. I remember seeing those high end acoustics hanging on the wall (it was a moneyed area with Stanford right there), but at the time I was more interested in vintage Gretsch and the consignment side of the store also had a wall of new Ibanez guitars (the AS200, AM200, GB10 were all regulars on that wall). Looking back that was one heck of a store.
Here's the guitar I sent the guy. These were made in collaboration with Tama, Tama had decided to get out of the guitar making business in 1978-9 and used up the last of their solid tone woods. Ibanez and Bernie Rico Junior partnered with Tama on a run of solid wood flat tops - you'd recognize them by their unique pick guards. This one is especially sweet, purportedly the only plastic on the guitar is the nut and bridge insert. It's got a slightly fast neck and is real loud and sweet, the guy in Cali is gonna love it.
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Prior to two weeks ago this was my only Yairi at the time, a made for Japan market GL600 - smaller than a parlor guitar - but solid rosewood sides and back and lovely spruce top. The marquetry are all Kazuo Yairi's work, it's stunning. And a really loud and mellow guitar. You wanna croon to your sweetheart this is what you use...
That is all...
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Feet, I posted shots of the GL600 because it is a lot like your guitar in that it does not have a lot of the "flashier" cosmetics but it has a feeling of real quality to it. It's clear it's hand made by an artisan who spares no expense when choosing the right woods and is not in a hurry cranking out guitars.
As an interesting side note, the guy I sold my '77 DY96 to lives in Japan and he took it to Kazuo Yairi in Gifu and had him do a neck reset on the guitar and work it over. Got to see a lot of really great guitars Kazuo had in a small museum like room that Yairi had made over the years. It must rough having 3 DY96s and gigging with them, knowing if you have to you can hop a train back to Gifu. Regretably Kazuo pass in 2014.
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while i acknowledge that i got a bit of a deal, i can see why they go for what they do. i played a bunch of gibsons, taylors, martins, epiphones, eastmans and a few others looking for the one. this was the one that stood out. also, its pretty cool that it passed through the master's hands at some point and it is sort of number 0, as far as production goes. not all of the yairis work for me, visually, but this one does. several of the new high end ones look pretty neat.
like you, i trend toward "prettier" guitars, though i'm fairly particular about that. for example, i do love me a gretsch or two, and some of the more ornate gibson-esque designs. but there is something about that yairi- its somehow elegant and plain and yet not, all at once. and like your little guy up there, it combines elements that are simple, classic, clean, eye catching and deeply weird into a cohesive whole. it isn't a pile of odds and ends like you'd think.
and add in the obvious care and craftsmanship that went into it, and man... its really something. its unlike anything i've ever known, yet instantly comfortable and familiar. hard to explain. but its what i now use when i want to croon to someone else's sweetheart. 
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Seeing the Bernie Rico guitar reminded me of another East Coast hand-made guitar of the period that I really liked. Has anyone played the early-70s LoPrinzi LR-15? I became aware of this guitar by seeing Larry Coryell back then. When I got my hands on one it was love at first strum. Construction was sort of like a funky Martin on the early LoPrinzis, but the sound was simply superb.
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Mike, always great to read about what I like to call your "gear adventures in paradise".
Such beautiful works of guitar art by AY! Wow!
I once owned one of their slightly lower end acoustics and loved it for what it was. But like an ex-love, I let her go in search of another beauty that captured my fickle heart at the time. One day I might seek out another Yairi. But for now, it's great just to oggle your new loves from afar.
Play them in good health.
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Well it got here about 1pm, tracking said it was on a truck for delivery at 02:30 when it was 28 degrees. Was 41 when delivered. I let it warm up an hour, then open d the box, the 90 minutes later the case was warm. She's safe and tuned right up. Terrific action and tone. Somewhere in its existence someone used a screw on capo on it, but for a 38 year old guitar it's good. Sure plays easy.
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And the owner before the seller had dropped it, neck break (where you see the upside down V) and a section of inlay on the back bottom is missing but it's solid in both places. The seller said the guitar always stayed in tune - probably one of those break/repairs that is stronger than the original wood. She sure is nice.
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