I just got my first bass today! I've been waiting for this for months. I'm a complete beginner, but I have a lot of experience with both guitar and cello, so hopefully I'll pick it up fast.
Anyway, I went to my local Guitar Center without really knowing what I wanted to get, except for a price range of $200-350 or so. I played some nice new ones, but then I checked out the "Used" section and found a treasure.
List price was stated as $899.99...but it was freshly discounted to $289.00. Apparently they had been holding it for a while--first they were selling it for $650, then $450, and then they discounted it again right before I walked in. I plugged it in, and it sounded amazing--blew everything I'd been testing out of the water. I liked the weight and feel of it as well.
So of course I bought it and took it home. It was perfect, and clearly meant for me. Now, here's the interesting part--I tried checking this model out online when I got home, to see what other people who had it thought of it. Only...this bass doesn't seem to exist. The headstock says "Alvarez", and there's no other text on the instrument. The tag read "Used Alvarez Summit Series Thinline Bass Proto 122206." Googling various forms of that got me nothing at all. Alvarez does have a "Summit Series," but they're acoustic guitars. Alvarez also did make a line of electric basses (AEG)...but they look nothing like this. Also, all of Alvarez's electric instruments seem to have been solid-body, and this thing is hollow-body.
It's definitely occurred to me that it might be some kind of fake...but that seems improbable. For one thing, why would someone fake a bass that doesn't exist? More importantly, it just does not seem like shoddy craftsmanship at all. I may not have a lot of experience with basses, but I know guitars. My girlfriend is a professional musician, and has a $2000 PRS. This bass honestly competes with that guitar in terms of beauty, and looks to be even better put-together in some respects. Great-looking finish, mother-of-pearl inlays, etc. It seems like the real thing to me, whatever that is.
Despite that, my repeated internet searches have turned up nothing. It's not on Alvarez's website; it's not anywhere. The only place I can find it is in the Guitar Center listing for the one I bought.
So...I love this bass. I'm extremely happy with it, and that's unlikely to change. But I'm also very curious to find out what exactly it is, and where it came from. If anyone has ever seen one of these before, I would be very interested in hearing what you know about them.
Sorry for the quality of the pictures...best I can do right now.
Edit: Hmm, images did not link as intended. The in-post method is failing me, so I guess I'll do it this way.
Anyway, I went to my local Guitar Center without really knowing what I wanted to get, except for a price range of $200-350 or so. I played some nice new ones, but then I checked out the "Used" section and found a treasure.
List price was stated as $899.99...but it was freshly discounted to $289.00. Apparently they had been holding it for a while--first they were selling it for $650, then $450, and then they discounted it again right before I walked in. I plugged it in, and it sounded amazing--blew everything I'd been testing out of the water. I liked the weight and feel of it as well.
So of course I bought it and took it home. It was perfect, and clearly meant for me. Now, here's the interesting part--I tried checking this model out online when I got home, to see what other people who had it thought of it. Only...this bass doesn't seem to exist. The headstock says "Alvarez", and there's no other text on the instrument. The tag read "Used Alvarez Summit Series Thinline Bass Proto 122206." Googling various forms of that got me nothing at all. Alvarez does have a "Summit Series," but they're acoustic guitars. Alvarez also did make a line of electric basses (AEG)...but they look nothing like this. Also, all of Alvarez's electric instruments seem to have been solid-body, and this thing is hollow-body.
It's definitely occurred to me that it might be some kind of fake...but that seems improbable. For one thing, why would someone fake a bass that doesn't exist? More importantly, it just does not seem like shoddy craftsmanship at all. I may not have a lot of experience with basses, but I know guitars. My girlfriend is a professional musician, and has a $2000 PRS. This bass honestly competes with that guitar in terms of beauty, and looks to be even better put-together in some respects. Great-looking finish, mother-of-pearl inlays, etc. It seems like the real thing to me, whatever that is.
Despite that, my repeated internet searches have turned up nothing. It's not on Alvarez's website; it's not anywhere. The only place I can find it is in the Guitar Center listing for the one I bought.
So...I love this bass. I'm extremely happy with it, and that's unlikely to change. But I'm also very curious to find out what exactly it is, and where it came from. If anyone has ever seen one of these before, I would be very interested in hearing what you know about them.
Sorry for the quality of the pictures...best I can do right now.
Edit: Hmm, images did not link as intended. The in-post method is failing me, so I guess I'll do it this way.
