The Alvarez trademark was established in 1965,  and the mark was used on Asian-made guitars distributed by The St. Louis Music Supply Company. This company was founded as a violin shop in 1922 by Bernard Kornblum.  St. Louis Music also distributed the Electra and Westone solid body electrics, and manufactures Crate and Ampeg amplifiers.

The first Alvarez guitars were built in Japan during the late 1960s. The company was one of the first to offer Asian-made solid top acoustics. Later models were made in Korea.