[Charlie Bernstein]

Originally Posted by David Eastwood

I stepped into this world a year or so ago, with a used Ibanez AF95 which I bought from a fellow AGFer. It was more than adequate to get me started, and I’d probably still have it, except that I found the neck a little narrow for my beginning fumblings in the world of jazz guitar.



I then bought a new Eastman AR372CE. It’s pretty much a straight ES175D clone, and I love it. It’s a very high quality instrument, and plays beautifully, with a little bit of setup work to my tastes. The neck’s a hair wider (1 3/4” nut vs the 1 11/16” of the Ibanez), and it makes all the difference for me. I’m playing (or attempting) pretty much straight jazz on it (neck pickup, fingerstyle), but it makes a more than adequate noise on the middle and bridge settings, and would probably do quite nicely for rock’n’roll and rockabilly styles. And, of course, Steve Howe used an ES175D for much of his tenure with Yes if you want to go that route.

One note for you: Eastman is now advertising these as having a 1.72” nut, if that is significant for you. Also, mine was $1200 brand new from Dave’s Guitars.

Attachment 105309

Hm. I used to have a Gibson that looked like that, in red. It was the single-cut model Chuck Berry used sometimes.