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Everything I was looking for; fully carved, 16" bout, 3.25" rims, Ebony fingerboard with no inlays, 25" scale (longest I can comfortably chord with on in a 7), hidden control wheels, mini-humbucker floater, and a Blonde! Another 1000 lessons or so and I'll have it sounding OK.
Loud and bright acoustically (even with TI Jazz Flat 12s and a round 7th); sounds great plugged in, the low A really sings. Well balanced across all the strings, excellent for fingerstyle playing.
(Sorry for the mobile phone pics, they don't do it justice.)
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Very nice, congrats! Playing a 7 string always seemed rocket science to me, it's difficult enough to master 6 strings. But I'm going to have to try it one day... Enjoy your new guitar!
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Congrats on joining the Eastman 7 string club! I've had my 805 for about a year now and absolutely love it. Love the natural finish on yours!!
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Very nice! The photos are fine. The wider neck always makes them look so comfortable to play. It's nice when you get exactly what you want. She's a beauty.
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What a pretty guitar.. bet that's going to be a blast to play.
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Looks awesome ! I really like the Eastman 9xx designs !
Congratulations.
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Lovely. May I ask where you got it? Also looking for one, preferably used.
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@Everyone - thanks for the complements, I haven't felt this good about a guitar purchase since my Imperial.
@NY-London - Thanks, I got it from Lou at "Guitars 'n Jazz" in New Jersey. It's a new instrument, built in 2013. For some reason, the factory isn't building blonde 905-7s at present. I have been looking pretty seriously for about 6 months for this instrument in blonde. I knew Lou had one but like you, I wanted to find a used one. I had planned on driving to NJ to play it but life intervened and I ended up buying it to see/play it knowing it would cost about $100 to return. I did get a line on a used Eastman 7 in blonde that claims to be a 905, but it looks more like a 910 and the owner is nowhere near an expert and I didn't want to ask them to measure it. I was thinking about buying it to resell once I got this one, but the market for 7 strings is so small I didn't want to get stuck with it. Unfortunately, I imagine that the VAT would be huge for you.
I felt like I was gambling on time for this one too long so I just bought it - turns out it's a very sweet player and a keeper as I move up the line to custom builds.
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Oh man, I've played that guitar! At guitarsnjazz, last November. Lou wasn't there that day and I wasn't ready to walk out with it just then. Later, I kept writing to Lou to find out if it was still available, but strangely, I could never get a clear answer (I'd just get things like 'We have lots of 7 strings' or similar). It was frustrating because I'd follow up saying, 'But I really want to know specifically about the blonde 905 I played.' Eventually I dropped it. So, good for you for purchasing it. It is a nice guitar.
But, yeah, the market is really small for these, which is why I'm reluctant to buy a new one. They are tough to sell, and I've heard they sit in shops sometimes for a couple years.
So, about that 910 7 that you mention, was that in the US?
Enjoy, and do keep us posted. Are you sticking with the factory pickup, by the way?
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Sorry to have bought it out from under you, man. Yeah, it is a sweet instrument; more than I expected, to be honest. I had a bit of trouble at first as Lou said he had it but it wasn't on his inventory sheet. He said a kid from Berklee was playing it the day I called - no idea if true or just sales talk but I was calling to buy in any case. I know he is selling a line called "Palen" - might be a house brand for him but I wasn't interested in trying a guitar I didn't know anything about.
Agreed on the shelf-life. I watched an 810-7 burst hang on the wall where I study for 3 years. 7 stringers are a very small subset of the genre.
I went back into my notes on the used 7 and based on the research I did after finding it, it isn't what they think it is - I believe that it's one of the newer "thinline" Eastman Jazz Elites, 17" bout, 2.5" rims, inset humbucker and inlaid neck that Lou was having built as a "Guitars 'n Jazz" boutique instrument. I don't know if it's semi or fully hollow. In any case, it is in the US. I was thinking of taking a drive next week to look it over. GAS is like a disease, you know? Retirement has just made it worse.
Funny you mention the pickup - I do plan on swapping it out (all the electronics, actually) but I want to play it for a bit yet, use it for my lessons and next time I'm out of town for a few weeks I'll leave it with the fellow that does all my work and come home to an even sweeter sounding guitar.
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So that's what happened with the 905 in inventory! Lou's mentioned that Jazz Elite to me. They're nice; they don't have the same acoustic sound as the thicker bodied ones, and certainly not as the 905. But there is some sound and they're probably great for plugging in.
I have not much liked the plugged in sound with the standard pickups of the Eastmans (there are some threads on the topic). If and when I get one I'll swap it out, perhaps for a Kent Armstrong handmade in US (or whatever he calls those). Supposed to make quite a difference, if reports are to be believed.
Enjoy (and don't feel bad -- I didn't need to indulge my own GAS more anyway...) 
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Agreed on the hand wound Armstrong - I've heard it on a 7 and it sounds great. That's the road I'm planning on going down. It sounds so much better than the (Korean?) built Armstrong floater.
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The Kent Armstrong 14 pole is a fantastic pickup. My instructor has one on his Goodman 7 string and to my ears is significantly better than what's stock on the Eastman.
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Congratulations. Looks great and probably is great fun! Enjoy.
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Thanks again and here's an update - plays "like buttah" and as a bassist, that low A gives me a deep warm feeling when I play it. It sounds good all the way up the neck, but it really seems to come alive around F on the way back down the neck - the instrument really finds its voice. Gets a little bit of scratchy on occasion, I think from the output jack. I can certainly live with it for now, but it is making me think about replacing all the electronics sooner rather than later. Not a surprise, as I have read about bad electronics in many Eastman reviews and figured the replacement cost into my budget. I just don't want to give it up for the time it will take to do the work.
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I remember really liking that guitar. The acoustic sound is fab. Replace those electronics and you will have a monster arch top.
Last edited by NY-London; 09-22-2014 at 05:52 PM.
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