In the small town of Kani, nestled in the hills north of Nagoya, Japan, lies the renowned K. Yairi guitar factory. They have been crafting guitars here for over 80 years.
Alvarez and Yairi have enjoyed an uninterrupted 55-year partnership in producing exquisite guitars, made by hand, from naturally seasoned woods with an unwavering commitment to quality and design. Every neck is spoke shaved by hand, braces are carved, and tops are tuned to perfection. The attention to detail and quality of the build are impeccable.
Kazuo Yairi and his loyal team of luthiers created an incredibly efficient and innovative workshop. Being able to work with such a lineage of master builders is very rare. Some of the luthiers have been at Yairi for over 50 years. Their skills and experience are shared with younger luthiers to form a multi-generational team who have chosen guitar building as their livelihood and dedicated their working lives to the craft. Our guitars are the result of the close collaboration between Alvarez & Yairia sharing of knowledge and an obsessional approach to excellence.
2024 is an exciting year as we introduce a new voicing and tonal response in our Honduran and Masterworks Series. This voicing is designed to widen the tonal palette, and to bring a more robust, clear bass response and a compelling openness to the guitar.
We call our new bracing system FST6. It is similar in shape and placement to our previous FST2 system, but the braces are lighter in weight. In the quest to strike the perfect balance between strength and vibration, FST6 delivers with a heightened richness we found impossible not to embrace.
Playing an instrument that instantly, almost intuitively reacts to your requests is a result we continually strive to achieve. We feel FST6 increases the connection with the player and responds effortlessly.
2024 also sees us launch new models and bring an array of new wood configurations to certain body shapes we have never made before. To our Honduran Series, we add an all-Mahogany 12th fret Parlor and a stunning non-cutaway Grand Auditorium. Masterworks expands its offering with a majestic mix of tonewoods. Californian Redwood, purchased by Mr. Yairi many decades ago, has been paired with East Indian Rosewood, and AAAA Adirondack is now also available with Rosewood. Both parings help to create rare and inspirational instruments with new tonal horizons.
2024 Masterworks also offers several new Grand Auditorium and OM models with a much-expanded choice of colors and tonewoods.
In Yairi Masterworks, the acoustic-electric versions are fitted with the new Hi-Fi system from LR Baggs. In Yairi Stage and Standard series, weve embraced the LR Baggs Stage Pro Bronze, a new low-profile, small footprint, modern EQ with the Element pickup.
Alvarez-Yairi 2024 is without the most exciting new line-up we have ever offered a brand new, exquisite voicing for our all-solid models, glorious new tonewood configurations in Masterworks and new EQs and pickups. They are, quite simply, the best guitars we have ever made.
