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Enthused by my experience with the Eastman AR371 I purchased an Eastman El Rey ER1, I've always enjoyed the always more expensive than I could afford solid spruce top archtops and I got a fantastic deal on this NOS El Rey. Pretty much robbed this one. Can't wait to get it in, I'm not a large fellow but I love comfort in a guitar and the sound of a larger spruce top, hoping this will get me in a nice and very enjoyable middle ground.
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01-21-2014 11:44 PM
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$627 shipped from a reputable seller, should be here my end of this week Monday of next week.
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Wow, great price. I like these, too!
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Yeah I really enjoyed Jack Zucker's demos of the ER2 on youtube that I heard especially this one , seemed to cop a big box vibe pretty well, I start getting really uncomfortable with a big 17 inch full depth archtop especially if playing it while standing up which is how I like to practice a lot of the times. The fingerstyle playing on here really got me, I enjoy my Tele and the AR371's laminate thunk for fingerstyle but I definitely want more this kind of vibe. Won't be able to get that two pickup sound I see him using a lot here but I'll live.
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Congrats, great price. I owned an ER2 for a while. It was an early one. I think the serial number was like #3 IIRC. Definitely a good sounding, unique guitar. I had Otto, the El Rey designer, check it one time as I found his shop wasn't that far from me.
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This one is from 2010, has been hanging in a shop and I imagine hasn't had enough interest for 3 years!
The ER2's seem to sell much more frequently and I can imagine that versatility being nice to have.
I like this one being closer to the acoustic hollow side of things. And I can always pick up one of the many semi hollows with two pickups if I feel like I need that someday. I've played a few inexpensive semi's that were fun, the Samick Royales can be had for pretty cheap.
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I love my ER1-7. Its also sunburst and so comfortable to play.
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Well, finally got the guitar in I really like it alot, it's extremely comfortable and I currently have it strung up with ten gauge roundwound strings and I still love the tone and response. I'm waiting on an adjustment wrench from Stewmac.com so I can straighten the neck out a bit as it has excessive relief with 12 gauge flatwounds as it was originally set up with 10 gauge roundwounds. Anyone with a sharp eye can see that this is NOT the guitar that was in the listing.
The listing had a 2010 model which has the 6 polepiece humbucker and the burst on this one is also completely different. Apparently the store I bought this from had a bunch in stock that they were trying to sell and one of the sales had a dupe listing from another guitar as far as photos. I called them and they've made it right with the situation but I let them know that selling a guitar with pictures negates that point if what they send you is not the actual guitar you are buying. But no big deal as I love this one just fine.
It sounds great through my Evans amp, better than the telecaster even. I have a Eminence Beta 12a on the way for the evans amp and I'm looking forward to getting that in there as the speaker that is in there now is a Celestion Truvox 1218 which is much the same idea as from what I understand it is a PA speaker as well. It sounds good, just thinking the Eminence might offer me more of what I like about the amp as is. This particularly Evans has no shortage of high frequency bite so I think the Eminence will be a good fit.
This is the 2011 model. I still love the guitar, so much so as far as comfort and tone that I'm thinking of selling my AR371. I just enjoy the tone of this one more, and the increased comfort sitting down and standing up.
It is also SUPER light and very resonant which is nice. It doesn't have a huge acoustic voice but but it does have a very nice clarity and complexity though an amp, it also doesn't feedback at any volumes I would play at my home with.
It does have the neck heavy issues described before here on this board but for me it's a lot like playing classical guitar(what I started on) in the classical seated position in that the right arm just rests lightly on the guitar and due to it's weight it comes right back and is very stable. You would never expect a standard classical guitar to just stay in position without the right hand resting without some sort of added contraption or rest. And for the price I paid and everything else it offers I will take having to rest my right hand on the guitar or re-rest it with the whole package.
Last edited by Ric Lee; 02-03-2014 at 03:32 PM.
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U scored Ric - Mega CONGRATS!!!
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I really like the very original look of these. Congrats.
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I like the El Rey a lot...i wish Eastman would pursue other original designs, as this one's a winner.
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FWIW, I think the finish on the one you received looks much nicer. Subtle beauty. But that TOM looks like some kind of replacement, no?
Originally Posted by Ric Lee
Anyone with a sharp eye can see that this is NOT the guitar that was in the listing.
The listing had a 2010 model which has the 6 polepiece humbucker and the burst on this one is also completely different.
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Yeah, I like the burst better on this model. It's more it's own thing and less of a squashed les paul burst vibe. It's just a hair bit brighter and more subtle in person.
I got this bridge from guitarfetish.com a long time ago just to try it out. It's a solid brass bridge and I just threw it on to try it. It's a fun bridge I think it needs to be fit to whatever string gauge you want to use. I'm most likely going to throw back on the GOTOH JAPAN bridge the guitar came with as the fit on the 3rd G string is not right on the Guitar fetish bridge and I don't feel like taking the files out.Last edited by Ric Lee; 02-03-2014 at 05:12 PM.
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I was looking for a bridge like that for years, could never find one Originally Posted by Ric Lee
Now I don't need it anymore.
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If yours is like mine, you will benefit greatly from a polepiece adjustment on that pickup. I was quite surprised just how far I had to adjust some of them to balance the sound across the strings. The G ended up raised quite a bit, and the B had to be dropped just slightly below the level of the cover. The others roughly follow the radius of the bridge. Don't be afraid to play with it. Mine went from noticeably unbalanced, with a very weak G and excessively strong B, and general unevenness elsewhere, to a perfect balance across all strings. Very nice. I performed the adjustment with roundwound strings (wound G) and then switched to flatwounds without having to change anything. Adjust both sets of adjusters (both coils' adjustment screws) the same amount. Don't compensate for the slanted pickup, although that might be an interesting experiment.
I also dropped my pickup down to about 1/8" below a string fretted at the 22nd fret. The pickup is quite slanted due to the relative angles of the top and neck, so my measurement is at the front pole location, measured to the cover. Dropping it to that level has removed some of the boominess and made the sound a little clearer.Last edited by krusty; 02-03-2014 at 11:30 PM.
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I have had an El Rey 1 for several years and love it well. I was looking for a instrument in which to use a couple of Seymour Duncan P-rail pickups and in November of 2012 I found an El Rey 2 that had been damaged during shipping, according to the seller. It had a broken headstock, was banged up and stripped of all hardware except for the tailpiece, and did not have a case. Over the following year my luthier rebuilt and refinished it. I am overjoyed with the results, visually and aurally.
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krusty: I tend to raise the G string a bit, haven't played with the pickup height on this one just yet but I'll give that some trial once I get my adjustment wrench in.
garryrenfro: Yeah I'd actually like to get an El Rey 2 someday due to my enjoyment of this ER1 and eventually a 16 inch archtop that I can sit with comfortably for acoustic around the house practice. I do enjoy the variations in color that bursts offer. Your ER1 is much more tobacco burst than mine from the photo and very nice!
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