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regarding budget, the 77 exrubato and albatross are regularly found used in the $1k range
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05-25-2018 07:07 AM
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Perhaps in the US, but hard to find used for that price, or at all, in Europe. The Exrubato Jazz sells in Europe new for about 2200+ Euros. Still worth it, I think.
Originally Posted by jzucker
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Keiper 109 is a Les Paul sized (approx ) hollowbody jazzer .A cheap Asian import made for Germany .My one is perfect but I may be lucky .I play it live instead of my Gibson.
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The Eastman T-146
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Personally I would not trust the Eastman T146 to be very useful if gain is to be added. I had one. Decent guitar but I found it extremely prone to feedback due to what seemed to be very thin woods. So I imagine with gain it would be a real handful. My 16 x 3 full hollow jazzbox (carved/floater) is actually more feedback resistant than that Eastman was. That was my experience anyway.
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I have a T145, not quite the same guitar being an inch less in width, but I don't find it all that feedback prone. You can get it to feed back, but it's not hard to prevent it, and I find it much less problematic than my 18" Wu, which does feed back easily. But of course every guitar is different.
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Epi Johnny A
It does have a small block under bridge
USA Gibson 57/57+ pick-ups.
Great electronics
I paid $1250 cdn new which is $999 US.
Mine weighs 6.5lbs
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Oh hell yeah!! Forgot about that one! It's fully hollow, just has a kidney-shaped post beneath the bridge to anchor it. It's not anything like the centerblock of a 335. Originally Posted by DRS
Epi Johnny A
It does have a small block under bridge
USA Gibson 57/57+ pick-ups.
Great electronics
I paid $1250 cdn new which is $999 US.
Mine weighs 6.5lbs
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Also consider an Epiphone Johnny A . It's fully hollow, lightweight and very versatile. The pickups are real Gibson 57's and they sound great. And it's in your budget! I have a couple of high end Ibanez 335 style guitars and they are wonderful but the Johnny A has a different feel and look and is equally useful.
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Epi Johnny A. is a great recommendation...Bigsby notwithstanding for a jazz box.
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I have an Eastman T145. Solid spruce top, thin carve, small body, single set-in humbucker. Light as a feather. One of my favorite "jazz/blues" guitars. Don't know if I'd subject it to distortion effects though. Originally Posted by sgosnell
AKA
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Guys!
Thank you all for the great opinions!
Does anybody has/had an Eastman T186MX? How does it handle effects and slightly distorted sounds? (In order to not take this wrong, I'm talking about the type of sound that some modern jazz players would use from time to time, like Gilad Hekselman or Kurt Rosenwinkel for example. I don't want play rock on this guitar). Does it feedback too much when playing in a bit louder situations?
In general I'm playing mostly duo, trio or quartet so I believe I won't have a lot of problems with feedback and volume but still I want to be sure. (I just realized I should mention that another reason that I want to change the guitar is also because the Sherry doesn't quite cut through the band properly and it's kinda muddy, even though I am not from the players that turn down the tone pot, quite the opposite, so if there are any opinions about the T186MX in bands situation, please tell me. )
I played the T184MX yesterday (the little brother of 186) and I wasn't really impressed but I think it was because of poor setup, lighter srings etc. Also I didn't spend enough time to check it out in depth.
I'm also considering an ES137. I know it's almost as heavy as the Sheraton but I fancied one since I was a kid so I'm not really sure.
The Johnny A. is just not my cup of tea although I never played one. I really avoid all kinds of tremolo systems, so it doesn't really work for me.
Again thank you all for the suggestions and keep it up!
Cheers!
P.S I just noticed the Eastman is 25'' scale. I've always played the 24,75'' scale. Is it a huge difference and would it take a lot of time to get used to it?
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I would say no to this. If you were going from 24.75" to 25.5", you can definitely feel a difference, but the 1/4" difference between the Eastman and what you have always played should be barely noticeable, if at all. (*I* would notice it, but it doesn't change anything, where the 3/4" does, at least for me it does.) Originally Posted by MLambov
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Peerless Renaissance Custom ( not the Standard ). All solid maple. 339 ish in size and under a grand by now perhaps.
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I just picked up a Peerless Sunset which might do you. It's 6.5lbs, fully hollow and far more "electric" sounding than I'd hoped for. I'm actually looking for a thinline singlecut fully hollow for swing, which means a much brighter sound. The Sunset is fine, just more on the "jazz" side, i.e. darker. This is even with a Fralin humbucker form p90 -5% underwound. The guitar has a kind of unpleasant resonance peak that is tamed by either turning down the volume or cutting the tone. I'm not sure if this is a property of the guitar itself or indicative of the pots/wiring. I know, not exactly a ringing endorsement, but the guitar is well built, very pretty and comfortable.
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I have guitars with scale lengths of 24.75", 25", and 25.5". I don't notice any difference between any of them. The difference between frets is so small that I can't really tell which I'm playing without thinking about it. It's about the same difference as playing in an adjacent key.
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I'm with @sgosnell. I have a couple of short scale parlor guitars at 24", most of my guitars are 25", and I have a 25.5". I move between them and hardly notice. The differences in fret position are really small, and there is more difference in tension from one set of strings to the next than I can notice from the scale length.
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Great!
So no problem about that! (i just haven't played a 25'' guitar for years)
I will check the 186MX as soon as possible, of course I would really appreciate all opinions about it from everybody that played one. It seems like a reasonable choice for what I'm looking for and I found a deal on a used one for almost half the price. Of course I appreciate all opinions and since i haven't set my mind on it yet, still open to other suggestions.
Thank you!
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All the eastmans I've played were mellow guitars, to my ears having a direction of more of an acoustic rather than an electric character. Very different from Epiphone, Gibson or Ibanez guitars. The scale thing is subjective, to me it is very important both for the playability and the sound of a guitar, I like different scales at different guitar styles. Good thing about Eastmans is they can be found very cheap used.
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Yeah, should be no diff. between scale lengths, if your left hand is up to par.
You mention the Sheraton not cutting through - are those the stock Epiphone pickups in it?? If so, you may need a p/up upgrade, and keep the guitar?
My Epi Lucille had stock p/ups but while they sounded so sweet at home, in a Blues band, they did not cut through the mix, they seemed weak. I changed p/ups and that Lady commanded the room. Very impressively.
Just sayin' it's a way to save some bucks. I can recommend swaps if you care to.
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I would prefer to get a nicer guitar instead. I've thought about a pickup swap, but since I actually spend not much money on the Epi, a decent pickups (a set of Classic 57 or Seth Lover) would cost as much as I payed for the guitar. Another thing is that lately it doesn't stay in tune long (I think it needs new tuners) and all kinds of other little problems, that makes performing a bit harder. That's why I think it's better to get a decent guitar instead modding it and either keep the Sherry as a backup or just sell it.
Cheers!
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The cause of going out of tune can be the nut. If the slots are too narrow for the strings you're using, they can bind and eventually release, jumping out of tune. This is especially prone to happen with plastic nuts. Some nut work might help your tuning problems. No guarantees, but it's worth the effort in any case.
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I already thought of that and a friend of mine help me out with filing the nut. I guess it helped out, but after a month I can still hear the guitar going out of tune after 20 min of playing.
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Guitars do not stay in tune. Wes Montgomery complained about that with his guitar. Tuning up to pitch from below, and stretching the strings to insure that they're tight around the capstan helps some, but retuning will always be necessary as temperature and humidity change and time passes.
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Yes, of course. I totally understand that. The thing with mine is that it goes out of tune drastically fast. And it really bugs me. Of course depending on situation, but sometimes in the middle of the song I start hearing out of tune pitches and I want to cut my veins
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