Martin vs. Eastman vs. Furch

[Shadowfox]

Originally Posted by Johan Madsen

Neither do I, I do think they have a voice of their own, more modern and less dark than let's say a Martin, but still with some kind of vintage vibe that I don't find in Taylors

Funny, I would say that Furch is what I always wanted a Taylor to sound like. It is definitely on the modern spectrum, but more balanced, and more resonant than Taylor. It might be that they are built lighter than Taylor.

[Dbone]

Originally Posted by pbla4024

I played a dozen of Taylors and maybe hundred Furchs and I do not find their sound similar.

Any notion that Taylor and Furch have a similar sound went out the window along with V class bracing coming into reality. I predict Taylor losing many a customer to the likes of Furch over time.

Furch every day of the week.

[SasquatchLife]

Originally Posted by Broadus

OP—I may have missed it, but when you play fingerstyle, do you use fingerpicks or nails or flesh? I think that may play into your decision of the guitar’s top.

I’m flesh-only, so that’s already pretty mellow on my Martin OM-21 and Eastman OM spruce tops.

With the brands you offer, I would lean towards the Furch. I’ve played a friend’s Stonebridge guitars in the past (my understanding is that Furch labeled their guitars sold over here as “Stonebridge”) and it was a well-built and good sounding guitar. That’s been several years ago, and I suspect the guitars are even better today.

I play flesh only. I bought some thimble picks to try out, but does not feel natural to me.

I'm also looking hard at some of the Eastman OM's. I've heard great things about them. Which ones do you have? Do you think mohagany or rosewood sounds better on the Eastman's? Last question, does the TC (thermo-cured) really make a difference? Here are the Eastman OM's I'm currently eyeing:

E6om
E8om
E10om with or without TC
E20om with or without TC

[Broadus]

Originally Posted by SasquatchLife

I play flesh only. I bought some thimble picks to try out, but does not feel natural to me.

I'm also looking hard at some of the Eastman OM's. I've heard great things about them. Which ones do you have? Do you think mohagany or rosewood sounds better on the Eastman's? Last question, does the TC (thermo-cured) really make a difference? Here are the Eastman OM's I'm currently eyeing:

E6om
E8om
E10om with or without TC
E20om with or without TC

I’m sorry, but I’m not really much help on Eastman models. Mine is a 2008 AC710S, manufactured when Eastman was getting into manufacturing flattops. They did some one-off models, as an Eastman representative told me, and he said that mine was. I would be surprised to know it was the only one of its particular kind, but there probably weren’t many.

Mine is an OM, Engelmann spruce top and rosewood back and sides. I bought it new-old stock in 2009 and have loved it ever sense. The “S” signifies slot-head, which is probably the “one-off” aspect of it as far as their OM’s go. The majority of their 710 models (soon thereafter relabeled AC712) were paddle heads.

The guitar is light and responsive, and others who have played it have been pleasantly surprised at its sound. The fit and finish is up to my Martin OM-21, but it’s pretty good. I suspect that Eastmans now are even better.

So as far as the Eastmans you listed go, I’m not really sure. I actually bought my Eastman sight-unseen because of the reputation of the company with violins and because I wanted a fairly inexpensive guitar to take on mission trips. It turned out to be much nicer than I anticipated.

I’ve read good things about the Eastman models you listed but have never played them. It may be good to begin a new thread asking for opinions about those in particular.

And one day we’ll be able to return to music stores to check out guitars ourselves!

I am intrigued by Furch guitars, though. I don’t like that so many Martins, even those which had 2 1/4” bridge string spacing (which my OM-21 has) are now 2 5/32”. I was looking into 000 Martins recently, but the string spacing is a deal breaker for me. If string spacing matters to you, be sure to watch out for that spec.

[dcmey]

The Martin 15 series is all Mahogany and would have a lot different sound than the other 2. I would make sure what kind of sound that you want. If you're into blues the 15 series would be awesome but for a variety of different music I would look at one of the other 2.

[tomcstokes59]

Originally Posted by SasquatchLife

I play flesh only. I bought some thimble picks to try out, but does not feel natural to me.

I'm also looking hard at some of the Eastman OM's. I've heard great things about them. Which ones do you have? Do you think mohagany or rosewood sounds better on the Eastman's? Last question, does the TC (thermo-cured) really make a difference? Here are the Eastman OM's I'm currently eyeing:

E6om
E8om
E10om with or without TC
E20om with or without TC

Sas - I can only speak from my personal experience. I had (regrettably sold for financial reasons) an E10OM-TC and I played a couple standard models. There was a considerable difference with the -TC model striking me as a fuller more complete sound. I have noticed recently there is much better availability especially of the E20OM-TC - LA Guitar Sales and The Acoustic Shoppe. The nominal upcharge is well worth it. You could also check eastmanguitarfans forum. There are several posts about the TC models. FWIW - I like Eastman a lot, so I may be a little biased.

One interesting note - I am kind of back in the market. I was searching reverb for E20OM-TC. There are no used ones listed. There are 12 E10OM-TC listed and only one used. That IMHO is telling.

[SasquatchLife]

Originally Posted by tomcstokes59

Sas - I can only speak from my personal experience. I had (regrettably sold for financial reasons) an E10OM-TC and I played a couple standard models. There was a considerable difference with the -TC model striking me as a fuller more complete sound. I have noticed recently there is much better availability especially of the E20OM-TC - LA Guitar Sales and The Acoustic Shoppe. The nominal upcharge is well worth it. You could also check eastmanguitarfans forum. There are several posts about the TC models. FWIW - I like Eastman a lot, so I may be a little biased.



One interesting note - I am kind of back in the market. I was searching reverb for E20OM-TC. There are no used ones listed. There are 12 E10OM-TC listed and only one used. That IMHO is telling.

Thanks for the feedback. That really does help. I'm pretty torn now between should I go with rosewood or hog eastman OM. I def prefer the tortoise binding look on the hog models like the E6om and E10om versus the white ivoroid on the Rosewood E8om and E20om models. To me, the white binding looks cheap and typically it turns to a yellowish color over time. So, that almost in itself has me favoring the hog models.

But, from what I've read, rosewood may be a better tonewood on smaller bodies guitars? Like you said, it's hard to find the TC EM20om models, but there are plenty of the hog equivalents.

What do you honestly think on the rs vs hog back and sides for these OM's?

I mainly play fingerstyle, slap technique, arpeggios, and light strumming.

Thanks,
Jordan

[tomcstokes59]

Jordan
I wouldn't be so bold as to advise you of one or the other. That is definitely a personal preference. My solution was to get one of each.

Once life returns to normal I plan on finding a mahogany OM (probably E6OM-TC) to compliment my E40OM.

Tom

[SasquatchLife]

Originally Posted by tomcstokes59

Jordan

I wouldn't be so bold as to advise you of one or the other. That is definitely a personal preference. My solution was to get one of each.



Once life returns to normal I plan on finding a mahogany OM (probably E6OM-TC) to compliment my E40OM.



Tom

Tom, I went ahead and bought the E6om. Will post pics in a sec. I found a seller last night that is taking E6om-TC preorders if you're interested. Link below.

https://sunvalleyguitars.com/product...red-pre-order/

[SasquatchLife]

Well everyone, I finally pulled the trigger on an Eastman E6om. I bought it from Ted at LA Guitar sales today. All solid Sitka top, with hog back and sides. 1 3/4" nut, and 24.9" scale. Bone nut and saddle.

I've been researching heavily for 3 months now. I was strongly considering some $2,000 range Furch and Martins prior to COVID19. Thankfully, I'm still blessed to have a job, but feel it would have been unwise to buy a guitar at that price considering all of the uncertainty. Anyways, I attached some pics, and will post some more when I finally get the guit fiddle.

Thanks to everybody on here who spent time to give me honest and useful feedback. I've learned so much throughout AGF, and I really enjoy this forum. It's truly the most friendly and helpful forum I've ever been a part of. You guys are great.

Cheers, Jordan

[Beakybird]

That's a really pretty guitar, especially the back. Play it in good health.

[SasquatchLife]

Originally Posted by Beakybird

That's a really pretty guitar, especially the back. Play it in good health.

Thank you! Yeah, I thought the back was pretty great too. A little different, but very pretty.

[Broadus]

Originally Posted by SasquatchLife

Well everyone, I finally pulled the trigger on an Eastman E6om. I bought it from Ted at LA Guitar sales today. All solid Sitka top, with hog back and sides. 1 3/4" nut, and 24.9" scale.

I've been researching heavily for 3 months now. I was strongly considering some $2,000 range Furch and Martins prior to COVID19. Thankfully, I'm still blessed to have a job, but feel it would have been unwise to buy a guitar at that price considering all of the uncertainty. Anyways, I attached some pics, and will post some more when I finally get the guit fiddle.

Thanks to everybody on here who spent time to give me honest and useful feedback. I've learned so much throughout AGF, and I really enjoy this forum. It's truly the most friendly and helpful forum I've ever been a part of. You guys are great.

Cheers, Jordan

Post on this thread, if you don’t mind, your impressions of the 2 5/32” bridge string spacing doing flesh fingerstyle.

That is a really nice looking guitar. Hope it works out real well for you, Jordan.

[SasquatchLife]

Originally Posted by Broadus

Post on this thread, if you don’t mind, your impressions of the 2 5/32” bridge string spacing with flesh fingerstyle.



That is a really nice looking guitar. Hope it works out real well for you.

Thank you. I def will get back on here and post. The bridge spacing concerns me a bit, but I think it'll be fine. I would love for it to be 2 1/4", but this is a hair over 2 1/6" which is till better than alot of 2 1/8". I think my math is correct anyways. 5 would go into 30 six times, which would mean 5/30 would be an even 1/6" inch. Is that right? Lol

[Pura Vida]

Congrats on the E6OM. I came within moments of buying that exact guitar, almost solely b/c of that gorgeous back! But instead, I went with the E6D, which is a better match for me, personally. It looks like it worked out for both of us!

Here's my NGD post: https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=577180

Can't wait to get your thoughts on the E6OM, once it arrives.
Cheers!