Eastman or Halcyon or Iris?

[UncleJesse]

I've not owned or played a Halcyon but I've owned at least 6 Eastmans and one Iris. Iris by a country mile. I like Eastman but Iris can hang with guitars at double or triple that price range and IMO, while Eastmans punch above their weight, they aren't in that next level with Iris.

[AZLiberty]

Never heard of Iris.

Eastman is a mass produced Chinese guitar. Never actually liked the sound of them. Everyone I have played was choked and unresponsive.

Halcyon is a custom handbuilt guitar by Ed Bond and (forget his partner's name). Both Larrivee and Martin influences. Expect an 18 month wait.

[roylor4]

Originally Posted by AZLiberty

Never heard of Iris.

Eastman is a mass produced Chinese guitar. Never actually liked the sound of them. Everyone I have played was choked and unresponsive.

Halcyon is a custom handbuilt guitar by Ed Bond and (forget his partner's name). Both Larrivee and Martin influences. Expect an 18 month wait.

Actually, they are not mass produced. They are hand built and used to have major inconsistencies in quality and advertised specs. I have owned four. Two were dogs. One was good and one was way better than average. All in all and in my experience, no better than most mass produced Chinese guitars (though many will disagree). I believe their hype and price have both gotten out of hand. Just my opinion.

Halcyon and Ed bond both have a stellar reputation here, best I can tell. Wish I had of bought a Halcyon when he was first starting out, as the prices were ridiculously low for hand built guitars. Still at a reasonable price compared to others.

[bufflehead]

Halcyon, hands down. I played Iris at the La Conner Guitar Festival, but only their small models, so that may be unfair. And I haven't played any Eastmans.

[Watt]

I've owned several Eastmans, both flattops and archtops. They are nice guitars, but they are not comparable to luthier built guitars, even moderately priced guitars from Halcyon and Iris. I haven't played an Iris, but I own a Halcyon and several other small shop and luthier built guitars. The Halcyon is one of the most responsive guitars that I have played. It's still possible that someone might prefer an Eastman. Although I have no doubt that a Halcyon (or an Iris) would be built to a higher standard and would probably exhibit better playability than an off-the-shelf Eastman, the voicing of any guitar is a matter of personal preference.

[RomanS]

The only brand of those I've actually played is Eastman - but I'd vote for Iris, simply because of those great-looking bursts, and that super-sexy headstock design, so much better than all those bland Martin copies and Gibson open-book variations on other boutique brands.

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by MoonSpruce

Given that these are in the same price range, which do you prefer and which would you buy? Which one is the best sounding in your opinion, or are they just good sounding “for that price range”?

Just my opinion, but Eastman shouldn't be mentioned with the other two. Eastmans are factory built in Asia while Iris and Halcyon are mostly hand-built in small shops in North America. I say "mostly" because I know some of the cutting for the Iris is done on CNC machines to cut down on the labor before the work goes into the hands of the shop's craftsmen, not sure if Halcyon has a similar process). There will be an attention to detail on the latter two that you're just not going to find on an Eastman.

Deciding between an Iris or Halcyon is probably going to come down to personal preferences. I've had no dealings with Halcyon but I have bought two Circle String guitars from Adam Buchwald who owns Iris Guitars (Circle String is his custom made to order line) and he is an absolute pleasure to talk to and work with. The guitars he produces are wonderful instruments.

[fregly]

People sometimes get stuck in price heirarchy perception. Ed Bond's guitars are not really in the comparable $2000 category. You will have to wait a couple yrs for the Halcyon but you get a high end level instrument. I feel mine surpasses the other boutique efforts I have had.

The Halcyon is a big jump up from the other guitars mentioned so far in the thread (I haven't tried an Iris).

[Scotso]

I would pick an Iris..Halcyons are great but a little too lush and reverby for my music. I would put Eastmans high end traditional models near Iris but not quite there for me. As always it depends a lot on your style and music choices

[SJ VanSandt]

Check out the website - these guys have pedigree out the wazoo! I haven't played an Iris yet but I'm dying to do so! I would say that if vintage sound is your bag, this would be the way to go. Also, the wait is about half that of Halcyon, presently. The Eastman I own is a decent little guitar but I doubt it's in the same class as the other two.

https://www.irisguitarcompany.com/about

[gr81dorn]

Iris guitars are amazing. I'm glad folks are catching on...been waiting patiently for folks to do so ;-) Ridiculously good quality and playability and sound for the price. They are intentionally stripped of some features that take more time or are more expensive to offer, but the blood and guts of the guitars are every bit that of the guitars Adam and his team (and now with dale fairbanks among them) would do for their lines that cost 2-3x as much....

I have had a lot of Eastmans...kinda fun how great that they can make a guitar for $1000ish or less. Go over that, you're bumping up against too many things that are just plain better.

Halcyons are well-liked and I think Ed does a lot right from what I can see. I'd have high expectations there for sure. You can see the Larrivee pedigree in the work, for sure, so if you think highly of Larrivee, I'd expect great things.

That said, I've had tons of guitars and many stupidly expensive ones from top builders - my Iris guitars are just better - they play and sound better. I can't justify anything more expensive than Iris guitars anymore as a result. They are literally the only "expensive" guitars I have left because they have absolutely ruined expensive guitars for me. I looked at my Collings and Bourgeois and some others and was like "why did I pay twice as much for you?" Sold them all.

[jazzereh]

Can only talk about Halcyon as that's what I've played. I have a 000 12 fret that is a delight to play. A light guitar with lots of volume and tone. Currently have GHS thin core PB lights on it and love the sound.

Ed Bond is indeed an excellent builder based in Vancouver and I've got one on order with delivery next year!

[Long Road Home]

I have experience with both an Eastman E6OM-LTD (recently sold) and a Halcyon OM (walnut/lutz). They are different animals and also quite different in price.

The Eastman's neck is quite a bit more full than the Halcyon's. The Halcyon is far more lightly built and resonant.

While the workmanship on the Eastman is good, the workmanship on the Halcyon is outstanding.

Another thing I prefer about the Halcyon is that I got to work with Ed Bond on the build. Ed was really helpful, let me choose from several wood sets, and tuned my guitar to favor my style of rhythm/strumming.

When my Halcyon was badly damaged, I was very tempted to order an Iris CH. In the end, I gave Ed Bond at Halcyon a deposit on a new one (likely an NL-00) As a bonus, a local luthier is now preparing to repair the Halcyon OM (which I had been told was a total write-off).

[ZeroFretWear]

I feel like these three brands are very dissimilar and really shouldn't be compared.
You can get an Eastman D28 copy with torrified adi/rosewood, ebony bridge/fingerboard, and nitro gloss finish for less than $1500.
Iris guitars are Gibson/Kalamazoo style customs in the $2k+ range. They have no pore filler, satin spray finish, kotolox (?) bridge and fingerboards. The closer comparison should be with the Waterloo line, as they're similarly priced and similar style of guitars.
Halcyon is a different bag altogether, tonally, structurally, stylistically.

[merlin666]

Originally Posted by roylor4

Actually, they are not mass produced. They are hand built and used to have major inconsistencies in quality and advertised specs. .

All guitars are made by hands. The term mass production only refers to the number of guitars produced and not about how they may be made. Eastman is one of the largest guitar producers globally with 100s made each day, whereas the number made by Halcyon is much, much smaller. There is also a big difference if the hands that make the guitars belong to skilled luthiers or unskilled labourers that repeat the same task over and over, which could also be done at higher cost and consistency by robots.