Eastman Archtops

[posternutbag]

I started the "What constitutes a professional archtop" thread and that sort of went sideways on me, so let me ask my question in a more direct way.

What is the general consensus on Eastman archtops, specifically the acoustic, non cutaway archtops like the AR805? If your opinion of them is poor, is there an alternative acoustic archtop in the $3k price range you like better, something like a vintage 1940s Epiphone Triumph?

[RobertForman]

I kind of suspected this is where you wanted to go and I admit Eastman guitars seem to have an interesting appeal. I will tell you I have played quite a few and while they are nice, I have never been compelled to take one home, never. not their archtops, which is where they made their name, and not their flattops. to me they are nice looking, well constructed, bland toned guitars. if you want a high quality, professional grade archtop, like I suggested look at vintage guitars, check archtop.com, you can get a killer Epiphone or Gibson for under 3K.

[rpguitar]

I will respectfully counter that experience, as I've owned 3 Eastman archtops (604, 805, 904). True, I eventually moved them on. But they were an important step in my archtop journey. Not a one of them was anything less than a musically satisfying, nice to look at, good feeling guitar. I did play 2 of them in hand before buying, and many folks will attest that this is necessary with Eastman. They do vary - but so do Gibsons (big time)!

I now own vintage archtops and love them. But they are not nearly as turnkey as an Eastman. They often require work and have annoying flaws after decades of ownership and use (or disuse). Keep that in mind if you are relatively young and/or inexperienced at "dealing with" instruments. Some people like tweaking and rescuing guitars in addition to playing them; you might not.

Archtop.com is not in any way a bargain center, BTW. I've bought from him (Joe V.) twice.

[marioed]

For the money I think Eastman's are pretty good archtops. I own two purchased used and both from 2003, a 810CE f-hole and a 800CE oval hole. I also have a vintage Gibson L7C and a vintage Gibson L3, both without pickups. Overall, I think the Gibson's have a better acoustic sound but the Eastman's aren't too far behind. Most of the used 800 series Eastman's I've seen were under $1500, at that price point I think they're a good buy. For $3000 I think I'd probably look for a vintage or used luthier built archtop

One other consideration in regards to the Eastman's. Both of my Eastman's originally had metal tailpieces which I think gave a better acoustic sound than the metal & wood tailpieces Eastman started using later. On the 800CE I swapped out the metal tailpiece for a Benedetto all wood tailpiece that gave a slight improvement acoustically. The 810 still has the original tailpiece.

Regards,
Ed

[bohemian]

I also have concluded, to date, that Eastmans are generally well made and play well. They do have the occasional glitch in fit and finish and set-up as do other makers.

My favorite was a plain-Jane full body oval hole, with absolutely no figure in the wood and an amber finish. I later regretted not buying it as I never again played an Eastman that good. I believe it was an 804.

I recently (last week) played another handfull of Eastmans and the one that stood out was a mahogany bodied oval hole with a burst finish. Excellent, however it had a cutaway so I passed.

They also had a very fine 910 in a natural finish. Very fine guitar but I have difficulty with a 17". I also do not like gold hardware, though easily changed.
The tone seemed monochromatic to me. Tough to get any nuance out of it.

I do not care for Eastmans, so called, violin finish. This is their attempt at an aged finish. To me it looks like a junior high scholl woodworking project gone bad. Really really bad, near comical.

Having owned older American archtops, there is something lacking in the Eastmans which I have not been able to define. Perhaps on the order of comparing a Datsun 2000 roadster to an MGB. One has "it", one does not.

I'll keep looking at them, and perhaps one day one of them will speak to me. Meantime, I am always on the alert for older American archtops.
I, too, have done business with archtop.com with good results. As has been mentioned, no bargains there.

[ronbo]

Having no experience and wanting to get into archtops with limited funds, I just got an AR610 solid carved mahogany beauty and am fairly impressed with build quality and tone, especially for the sub-$1K price tag I paid (used)! It's quite loud, has a nice balanced tone with more bass than I actually expected and plays very easily. I feel this is a great entry-level guitar for me and if the archtop bug bites hard in the future (and my level of experience and skill warrants) I will have no problem passing this on and getting something a little more 'professional'...

[RobertForman]

here is a video demo comparing two Eastman archtops: http://www.soundpure.com/p/eastman-a...FQHZQgod8RUAXQ

[Silly Moustache]

Hi, I have an Eastman AR805(e) it is in a similar "classic" finish to the one in the video.

I'm in the UK, and I had to wait a loooong time to get it. Unlike other far eastern items that I bought (I bought two Loar gutars, sent the first one back, got another - equally poor presentation and finish faults, and neck angle problems - moved it on, got another - neck angle all wrong - moved it on). The Eastman is easily a higher grade item.

Fit and finish is very good, tonally it is strong and evenly balanced. It came in, and lives in a case similar to a Calton, which would guard it against almost anything, but has nice strong feet which bruise your legs as you walk with it, and the case is so plush fitting that there is little/no room for accessories.

The Kent Armstrong p/up is exemplary as are the tone and volume pots carefully placed under (no in) the floating pick guard so you aren't going to accidentally knock them.
This is my ONLY electric guitar but as the p'up is floating - it is also a perfectly fine acoustic guitar.

I find I don't play my archtop guitars much any more and I did , later get a 1934 Gibson L-4/7 (not sure which, which has that pre-war magic. It came from Archtop.com, but as the frets had been leveled to almost nothing I had to pay for a refret.

The Eastman does not sound like the Gibson or vs versa but the Eastman is not inferior to my old Gibson.


OK, it's a while later. This thread prompted me to get my two guitars out and do an A-B with them. The Gibson has EJ17s and the Eastman Nickel Gibson L-5 strings (because of the p/up). They tend to be a bit dull.

To my surprise having not played either for some weeks/months.

Here it is :

The Gibson has bark and tone, and the "romance" of a pre-war guitar.
The Eastman is smoother tonally, and has more bass, and is a little more responsive to subtle playing.

I'm a little shocked. I really don't need the three arch-tops I now have (the other is a very nice Harmony Monterey but not in this league.

My wife just walked into the bedroom, and so I asked her to listen to them both (Same progression, and same 2 m/m pick. She said the Eastman was a) more mellow, and b) slightly louder !!

I have been contemplating selling the Eastman.

It actually sounds better than my vintage (and significantly more expensive) Gibson, but the Gibson has "mojo".

However (punch line ) - The Eastman is superior to my perfectly good 1934 Gibson!

Ulp !

[mr. beaumont]

Very nice guitars, some very good pros play them.

they're x braced and modern voiced, a la Benedetto. If you're looking to play big band/swing rhythm they're not the best choice. Plugged in they can sound great.

I'd be more helpful if I knew what you intended to play on this archtop you're looking for.

[upsidedown]

I'm green as green gets when it comes to archtops, so take this for what it's worth; I am well pleased with my acoustic, non-cutaway AR-605. I played for about 2 hours yesterday with my friend and his 1944 Gibson L7.

The L7 is an exquisite instrument. It just sounds like...wood, and has tone for days, or should I say (coming up on 70) years? Yes, the Eastman, which is green as me, suffered in comparison with the L7. However it has a remarkably wide tone palate. My friend, who actually does play that Freddie Green, 4-to-the-bar swing stuff, played mine for a little bit and was also impressed. Not enough to swap his L7, but let's be reasonable.

I'd respectfully disagree with Mr. Beaumont in that I think my particular Eastman would fit well in the right swing band, especially one looking for volume from its guitar player. And mine's a mahogany! I could only imagine how the maple-backed ones sound.

That said, and having just read your post again, if I had $3000 to spend on an archtop, I'd be looking for a Gibson L7. Just out of curiosity, why aren't you?

[posternutbag]

Originally Posted by mr. beaumont

Very nice guitars, some very good pros play them.

they're x braced and modern voiced, a la Benedetto. If you're looking to play big band/swing rhythm they're not the best choice. Plugged in they can sound great.

I'd be more helpful if I knew what you intended to play on this archtop you're looking for.

I am not quite sure how to define what it is I play. In a lot of ways, it is sort of like David Grisman's work with the Grisman Quartet/Quintet and his work with Jerry Garcia. I play in small acoustic groups (guitars, mandolins, violins, bass guitar or occasionally an upright, no horns, no drums). A typical setlist is all over the map but includes a little bluegrass, rock, blues and swing.

I currently play a Martin 000-28VS and it works, but isn't quite ideal. The complexity of the tone and the sustain is manageable, but a drier tone with quicker decay would, I think, help both with solos and especially with rhythm. There are often two guitars and we kind of fight each other rhythmically. I was hoping that if I moved to an archtop, we might be able to stay out of each others' way a bit better. I go back and forth between buying a vintage 000-18 which is sort of a compromise guitar or a good archtop. Whatever I choose, I will probably add some form of amplification (mic, pickup, or a combination).

[RobertForman]

Originally Posted by posternutbag

I am not quite sure how to define what it is I play. In a lot of ways, it is sort of like David Grisman's work with the Grisman Quartet/Quintet and his work with Jerry Garcia. I play in small acoustic groups (guitars, mandolins, violins, bass guitar or occasionally an upright, no horns, no drums). A typical setlist is all over the map but includes a little bluegrass, rock, blues and swing.

I currently play a Martin 000-28VS and it works, but isn't quite ideal. The complexity of the tone and the sustain is manageable, but a drier tone with quicker decay would, I think, help both with solos and especially with rhythm. There are often two guitars and we kind of fight each other rhythmically. I was hoping that if I moved to an archtop, we might be able to stay out of each others' way a bit better. I go back and forth between buying a vintage 000-18 which is sort of a compromise guitar or a good archtop. Whatever I choose, I will probably add some form of amplification (mic, pickup, or a combination).

where I come from what you play we call string band music. re. your current guitar, you might want to look into a maple flattop guitar, like an L-00 style guitar. rosewood can clutter up the sound. I have a maple arcthop + a maple flattop, here is a little snippet of the flattop, recorded on Saturday with new strings. Note the crisp and dry tone. cuts very well too, https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v...type=2&theater

[rpguitar]

Check out Joey Mckenzie's work with the Quebe Sisters Band. Three fiddles, upright bass, and a vintage L-12 (just like an L-7).

It's a Sin to Tell a Lie

And an interview where he plays some rhythm on the L-12 to demo it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlmWtRfIDx8

[Archtop Guy]

I really wish that Eastman had been around when I was new to archtops. I would of owned several! I always play them at my local store, Gryphon Stringed Instruments, and some of them just knock me out. IMO the value is incredible.

[upsidedown]

Here are a couple of videos of some German cat playing the AR605. Just for fun;

http://www.andreasschulz.de/walking-blues-eastman-ar605

http://www.andreasschulz.de/fingerst...-eastman-ar605