Which Eastman Blows your Mind?

[Dave H]

Love my E10 OM. Might trade it for a Froggy, but not much else.

[Jim]

I think it is great that there are people who really like Eastmans and that is their choice. However, none of the Eastman's I have tried have 'blow me away' nor 'knock my socks off' but then I am sure I am not their target customer. They seem to be nice affordable entry level guitars. One the reasons why I have never felt the need to own any of those that I have tried is that while the woods are solid - a plus - they do not seem to be the high quality tonewoods that I have found on the big name acoustics and those are the ones that I buy.

For example, Jean Larrivee personally selects the spruce for his company's guitars and he cherry-picks the best fraction of 1 percent of all spruce he is offered. I am sure he pays top dollar for it as well. The spruce that is left is then sold to other companies at a much lower cost. The other 'big name' acoustic companies and luthiiers do the some cherry picking and they pay for the priveledge of using the top quality tonewoods.

It is like a diamond. You can buy a 1 carat diamond for $1,000 or you can buy a 1 carat diamond over $50,000. Both are diamonds, but both are not the same thing.

[Eldergreene]

Well, I'd contend that Eastman's are better than nice 'entry level guitars' - I had a Larrivee OM 03R & my Eastman E20OM is way better sounding, whatever may be the theoretical superiority of the Larrivee - Eastmans are fine guitars regardless of price.

[dwalton]

After owning several Collings and H&D dreads, my Eastman E20D pretty much blows my mind. It's that good.

[mattwood]

Originally Posted by Eldergreene

Well, I'd contend that Eastman's are better than nice 'entry level guitars' - I had a Larrivee OM 03R & my Eastman E20OM is way better sounding, whatever may be the theoretical superiority of the Larrivee - Eastmans are fine guitars regardless of price.

Wholeheartedly agree!

[momanbilly]

I kind of hope folks keep calling Eastman guitars a good entry level guitar, because then Eastman might give me time to accumulate about 7 of their guitars before they start raising their prices. A significant issue is that Eastmans sit in shops still, for a long time, because they don't have the status nor general market demand yet, of their big name competitors, so, the strings get old and they just don't sound good. I live within 1 1/2 hours of 3 Eastman retailers and 1 of them keeps new strings on their guitars and another never replaces the strings thus, I play Eastmans that let me know why they are getting such great reviews and I also play Eastmans that sound quite plain. I have loved playing guitars in shops for over 35 years and can say for sure that Eastman are not just an entry level quality of guitar as to tone. As to the quality of construction and quality of woods, I don't know anything about those, tone is the most important to me.

[ish5]

Originally Posted by Jim

I think it is great that there are people who really like Eastmans and that is their choice. However, none of the Eastman's I have tried have 'blow me away' nor 'knock my socks off' but then I am sure I am not their target customer. They seem to be nice affordable entry level guitars. One the reasons why I have never felt the need to own any of those that I have tried is that while the woods are solid - a plus - they do not seem to be the high quality tonewoods that I have found on the big name acoustics and those are the ones that I buy.

For example, Jean Larrivee personally selects the spruce for his company's guitars and he cherry-picks the best fraction of 1 percent of all spruce he is offered. I am sure he pays top dollar for it as well. The spruce that is left is then sold to other companies at a much lower cost. The other 'big name' acoustic companies and luthiiers do the some cherry picking and they pay for the priveledge of using the top quality tonewoods.

It is like a diamond. You can buy a 1 carat diamond for $1,000 or you can buy a 1 carat diamond over $50,000. Both are diamonds, but both are not the same thing.

So if Jean Larrivee gets the "best fraction of 1 percent" what do Martin,Taylor, Collings, Gibson, Breedlove, Froggy, Santa Cruz and every other high end guitar maker get?

So you're saying Eastmans are cheaper because they use subpar woods and not because they use cheaper labor and you don't pay up for that little name on the headstock?

[flaggerphil]

I was about to jump in a ask the OP why he wasn't looking at Larrivee's...until I saw the thread was over a year old.

BTW, I know nothing of Eastmans, good or bad.

[upsidedown]

I've owned several Eastman guitars now, all of them only for a short time. My reasons for moving from one to the next are varied. You might almost say fickle. The first one I bought was too similar to another guitar I own. Same with the next. One was an impulse, bought sight unseen that turned out not to be a love match. One or 2 of them I'd like to have back...to give myself a chance to bond with them.

To answer the (old) question, the 2 Eastman guitars which come closest to blowing my mind are the E10-SS and my current Eastman, the ET15-SS, pictured right side up below.

[momanbilly]

I've been an Eastman fan for about 3 years, have owned 4, have played guitars for about 45 years. I'd say, Eastmans are 1 of the best value guitars made. If I compared Eastman in detail to Martin, Taylor or Collings, one would conclude I was exaggerating. The AC420 Sitka over rosewood (same as Eastman's E8D) and then the AC520 engleman spruce hog are outstanding guitars and anything in their 800 Series. Beautiful guitars, beautiful "shimmering" or "chimming" tone, balanced, quality built, projection to spare and fun to play.

[AcousticMoose]

I'm not much of an Eastman fan.

[kayakman]

I remember seeing one of the first Eastman guitars in this country,the Eastman rep was at Mandolin Bros way back when.Did not like the guitar at all,finish was very crude,sounded like you put strings on a cardboard box.I don`t know if they have improved since then.

[pugsley-do-rite]

Originally Posted by kayakman

I remember seeing one of the first Eastman guitars in this country,the Eastman rep was at Mandolin Bros way back when.Did not like the guitar at all,finish was very crude,sounded like you put strings on a cardboard box.I don`t know if they have improved since then.

They have improved by using higher grade cardboard and better tuners.

[kayakman]

I love it!!!!

[ronbo]

Well, the Guitar that's getting the most playtime right now for me is my AR610, mahogany/spruce Archtop!

There, now at least this thread actually has an archtop reference in it....