Eastman Archtop owners (and other archtop owners) - please share your thoughts...
 

Hi Gang,

My father-in-law is a recovering banjo player and this weekend I helped him shop for his first guitar. He ended up getting an Eastman acoustic which we were both highly impressed with. While at the store I had a moment to check out the Eastman archtops - both 6 and 7 strings - and I was even more impressed.

However, I openly admit I'm not as well versed on archtops as I should be. I have a few electric archtops but don't own an acoustic archtop. Thus, I'd love to hear from Eastman archtop owners and archtops of a similar price range owners on your experiences and thoughts. Can you please share names of other makers for me to check out. I'd like to play as many as possible before letting my ears decide...

Thanks for your input and thoughts!

Kindly,
Danny

Hi Danny,

I've got an Eastman 803ce (well, I'm 90% sure that's the model), and it is a wonderful guitar for me. I came up playing mostly jazz and on archtops, and this is still the first one I've felt so strongly about.

It plays beautifully and a terrific sound can be had and it feels just right in my hands.

Prior to that one, and I'd played a number of other Eastmans I'd liked, I had/have a beautiful Gibson one-off that was a gift from a great player, and until I played the Eastman I thought that was at least a good guitar. It is an oval hole l4-? type of model. Floating pickup, typical Gibson archtop.

While looking around for the Eastman, and I was looking in the used-Eastman price range, I played a few Benedetto customs and Hofner archtops. Between the two, I preferred the Hofner, and it was a similar price as the Eastman. The Benedetto didn't work for me. It was thin sounding to my ears and thus not fun to play. All were ~close to the same price (not very expensive really for such nice axes).

The Eastman is a good gigging guitar, pretty rough & tough, and cuts through trio, quartet situations without using oversized amplifiers. I've not yet played an Eastman I disliked, but some feel better to me than others. Acoustically the Eastman is also a little quiet but very pretty. I have a lot of recordings of this guitar on Youtube. Feel free to message me if you want to to hear any. I'll be glad to send you some links.

By the way:: Somewhere in there a couple years back now, I started playing flattops, and was blown away by how much I loved those. Once again, so far, I think there has been two guitars that've really caught my attention, both unobtainable at the time. One was a very old Martin 0018, the other an Eastman flattop that was already spoken for. Maybe I'm just too fussy, but it normally takes me a lot of different guitars in my hands to come up with one I like.

Best of luck to you - Papol

Hi Danny:

Eastman offers a line of Solid Wood Archtops -- a feature that you will normally have to pay several times more to obtain for the same price as an Eastman.

Their workmanship can be a little spotty at times (based on what I have seen) -- mainly finish issues -- but a good one is normally a "really good one".

For a while I owned a 905. I was really impressed with the woods on that guitar. I ended up trading it back to the dealer I bought it from, as he had a NOS Taylor XXX-KE that I really fell in love with.

I hope to someday own another Eastman. They are getting more invovative with their models, I expect that trend -- along with more consistency in overall quality -- to continue.

I'm curious -- which model did your father-in-law (the recovering banjo player :-) ) get?

Peace,
Bill

After lusting over acoustic archtops for the past two years, and always shying away due to cost, I finally took the plunge and bought a used Eastman AR904. I wanted a solid woods, hand carved, acoustic archtop. As mentioned above, these don't come cheap, and I was repeatedly looking at guitars 4K and higher. Considering that would be double my current most expensive guitar, I just couldn't justify it. I had read about Eastman's and they always seemed to get great reviews, with the exception of the occasional comment on a finish flaw, as noted above by Taylorplayer.

I just received mine last Thursday and have been enjoying it quite a bit. It has surprisingly good volume. It's a joy to play acoustically, though I would like to add a pickup eventually. The workmanship is great and it came set up better than any other guitar I've ever received. The action is unbelievably low (just like I like it) with no hints of buzzing or fretting out anywhere up or down the neck.

For me, this ended up being the perfect decision. If I was going to focus on playing only an archtop, I could justify spending the cash on a hand made, boutique, US-made guitar, but since this is more of 'test the waters' guitar for me, the Eastman was perfect.

I wouldn't recommend buying new, as they seem to depreciate more that other guitars, but a used Eastman is a hell of bargain for the amount of tone, quality, and playability you get in return.

A few photos of mine:

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...Picture016.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i3...Picture019.jpg

Hi bd:

Beautiful looking guitar. Very sharp... thanks for sharing both the pictures and the information.

If it sounds anywhere near as good as it looks, that must be a wonderful sounding guitar...

Peace,
Bill

Thanks so much for a great post, Papol. I totally agree with trying various guitars. I'm hoping to do that in the archtop world. The Eastmans were very eye opening however.


Thanks, Bill! I think they're doing some great things too. When my father-in-law told me he was looking for a first guitar my mind went to the article I read in the Fretboard Journal about Eastman. When we tired them, we both were impressed. I think he bought an AC 320 (?), it had a red spruce top with mahogany back and sides. He's a tall guy and it fit him perfectly.

Great looking guitar! Do you happen to have any sound clips? Did you try the f-hole models too?

Thanks again for the input, gang. I appreciate it!

Anyone else?

Kindly,
Danny

Danny -

Sounds like a great guitar... I'd really like to try that model -- that's a great combination of woods (IMO).

Peace,
Bill

Just a heads up, your web page has been hacked. You might wanna check it out.

backdrifter - what kind of strings do you have on that lovely guitar?

Hi eatswodo,

I wish I could tell you! They were on it when I got it, so I really can't tell. They are definitely bronze, though I can't tell if they're 80/20 or phosphor bronze, and they're .12's. I like them well enough, but I'll certainly be playing around with other kinds. I would like to experiment with flat wounds, flat tops, and nickel wounds. Should be fun!

Thanks - the reason I ask is that I'm going through string trials on my Godin 5th Avenue right now. Nowhere near a match for the Eastman, but we all have to start somewhere.

A set of GHS nickel-wound electric guitar strings (.012-.052 or thereabouts) is on it at the moment. Before that, I had Elixir Nano PB mediums on it - best acoustic sound so far, but they didn't work well with the mag pickup I installed. The GHS set sounds much better amplified, and also seem to have more 'archtop character' acoustically.

I have a set of D'Addario Chromes to try next...

Archtop guitars, to many, are the pinnacle of modern luthierie... i love them.... seriously...

there are many people who dislike the Eastman company and their products... Most of these people are probably more perturbed at the practices of Eastman's home country than they are at the company itself... because, from what i've played... they're awesome instruments... I've had 3 of their archtops.. and they are all incredible instruments for the money...

Eastman totally kills other archtop companies at their price point in terms of quality and playability...

but...

all things are put into perspective when, in my case, someone lets you play one of their real Benedetto, or Ribbecke, or Moll, or Manzer, or a (name of a bad to the bone luthier), or a 1930's gibson archtop.... no production guitar can reproduce the awesomeness of one of those puppies.. :)

but... you don't need a small business loan to buy an eastman.... which is why the only archtop i have is an eastman.... :)

THANK YOU!!! Oh man, thank you. I don't know how that happened. I think I have it fixed.

I really appreciate it.

Kindly,
Danny

Thanks for your reply. Which 30's gibson would you recommend? I've found several L-30's, L-48's and even a couple Kalamazoo's. Thoughts on those?

Kindly,
Danny

The 5th Avenue looks like an amazing guitar and has received fantastic review. I love Godin, they make awesome products. The 5th Avenue was on my list of possibilities too, and I would still like to play one soon.

Anyone interested in archtops may want to check out the acoustic section of The Gear Page, as there has been quite a bit of discussion revolving around them lately. There is a thread about archtop string selection too, which has been an interesting read. I think my next try might be La Bella nickel wounds, which is what Frank Vignola uses. True his guitar is completely different than mine, but I love his tone, so I figure it's as good a place as anywhere to start!