My Weekend Guitar Trial Adventures

[Bushleague]

I think once you have your list narrowed down, it helps to go back and play them in perhaps a different order. Allot of times I find that in my head the first great guitar of the day becomes the comparison all day, and I generally think it sounded the best. Sometimes going back and playing that guitar at the end of the day helps clear things up, coming back the next day and playing something else first always helps me keep my perspective accurate though.

If having returned to a particular guitar after playing 20 others, and/or shuffling the order up on a different day you are still impressed... you've probably found your next axe.

Curious what you thought of that Larivee's tone? I had the chance to play a few for the first time last week and liked the sound of the rosewood models, but not so much the mahogany ones which isnt really typical for me. To me the tone was somewhat Martin-esque, but with more of a scooped tone to it, like the high and low registers of the tone almost had some space between them. More importantly it seemed like when I was strumming a chord but moving notes around in the lower register the changes really popped. Cool guitars.

[Sonoma2]

All of the Eastman OM's have a 24.9" scale.

[Wellington]

Originally Posted by samirguitar

Oh boy. You had a great field day.
Thanks for reporting your findings.

I noticed you found Sigma worthy. I agree.
My experience with 1 sigma (Hummingbird copy) few years ago was that they sound good on first few frets but once you capo beyond 5th fret or play up the neck they sound either brittle or as if the life is gone out of the sound. I eventually sold that and bought real hummingbird. But as long as you are playing open chords and dwelling within first few frets, they sound really good.

That's an interesting observation! Unfortunately I didn't bring my capo which I usually do, I actually use a capo more often then not, good to know.

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

I enjoyed reading your detailed report. Let us know how you like the John Pearse strings, too.


Wade Hampton Miller

I actually really like them a lot on my Guild so far, Peter Sawchyn was the builder who did my setup, I mentioned I had some John Pearse in my case I wanted to try, he said he's a big fan and it's what he strings on all the guitars in the shop and the guitars he builds, so that was yet another very worthy individual who speaks highly of them. I see what the obsession is about, so far so good, they are .11-52 80/20's.

Originally Posted by Dogma

You could title this thread:
My Weekend Guitar Trial Trail Adventures

You mentioned that the first guitar written up was used. Were the rest of them new?

No, I believe the only used one was the Guild!

Originally Posted by Bushleague

I think once you have your list narrowed down, it helps to go back and play them in perhaps a different order. Allot of times I find that in my head the first great guitar of the day becomes the comparison all day, and I generally think it sounded the best. Sometimes going back and playing that guitar at the end of the day helps clear things up, coming back the next day and playing something else first always helps me keep my perspective accurate though.

If having returned to a particular guitar after playing 20 others, and/or shuffling the order up on a different day you are still impressed... you've probably found your next axe.

Curious what you thought of that Larivee's tone? I had the chance to play a few for the first time last week and liked the sound of the rosewood models, but not so much the mahogany ones which isnt really typical for me. To me the tone was somewhat Martin-esque, but with more of a scooped tone to it, like the high and low registers of the tone almost had some space between them. More importantly it seemed like when I was strumming a chord but moving notes around in the lower register the changes really popped. Cool guitars.

I thought the Larrivee sounded really nice, I wish I would have played that one a bit longer, I didn't get along with the neck, but I do get along with their dreadnought necks so I'm thinking it must be their neck + the 1 3/4 nut on the OM's that makes them a little uncomfortable for me, even though I have pretty long fingers. I can't speak too much to the nuances of the tone as that was one I played less than most of the others, but I remember liking the tone and sustain.

Originally Posted by Sonoma2

All of the Eastman OM's have a 24.9" scale.

Interesting, I am wondering of the E8 OM is the exception, I'm getting conflicting information here.



It's interesting now that it's been a few days, the guitar I am most thinking about now is the Martin 000-15m, next to that the Eastman SSOO. Both similar prices, the Martin being less, completely different guitar tone woods and scale lengths, but really nice to play. For a small body I'm not sure what I would buy if I had to choose right now, I'll have to play both those again, although it might be unlikely that I'll come across the Eastman in person again for quite some time.

But another interesting thing is after trying all of these guitars, I got home and opened up my Guild after it's setup, now with a low action. I couldn't stop playing it and couldn't stop marvelling at the tone of this guitar, it continues to astonish me. Someone mentioned about finding a guitar you keep going back to, well comparing to all these great guitars I tried, nothing matched my preference for what my Guild is providing me right now, even though it's not a small body. I think I'd still like to upgrade my folk size guitar for another smaller guitar, at this point it's between the 000-15 and the Eastman L-00 copy, but I fear spending that money (once I've saved enough) only to find myself still mostly going for the Guild. If it ain't broke don't fix it I suppose!

[Tannin]

Take the Guild back in with you and play it side by side with the other ones you are intersted in. That will tell you if they are up to the task of sitting alongside it.

[vive]

I just spent an hour at a lovely violin shop that also sells Eastman guitars. I brought home an E1OM, sitka over mahogany, good tone and construction for a reasonable price. Scale length 24.9 inches. I reviewed all of the models‘ specs on the Eastman Guitars website and here’s what I found about the E8OM-TC which I’m guessing goes for the non-torrified E8OM as well. Oddly I couldn’t find specs for the regular E8OM on the website.