Eastman T186MX?

[omphalopsychos]

Gary, mine was a custom made T186SM. I actually got it second hand so I don’t know the full details about how Eastman came to produce this particular design. As far as I know, it is a one-of-a-kind. The back and sides are maple, the top is spruce. The pickguard seems to be ebony with maple binding.

[lavaspin]

that's not true. Spertzals and several of the open designs are much lighter. It's more than the buttons. But if you're worried about neck-heavy, the 186 is not neck heavy. The 185 is but they are redesigning the headstocks on those so hopefully the newer ones will not have a problem. Over on my facebook forum (modern jazz guitar), zakk jones posts there who is an eastman endorser and the 186 is his favorite axe. No feedback and it's tone is beautiful.

I got interested in the Eastman T186 after watching a few video live shows of Matt Jalbert with Tauk. Probably should have held out for a T186 but I think I can make the T185 work in the meantime. Should have done a bit more homework and I would have realized it was neck heavy. I'm totally digging it as long as I'm not standing. And, I think I figured out the vibration. Coming from the neck p/up moving some. Should be easy to stop it.

Thanks again to everyone for the info!

[Robertkoa]

Yes, Derek's Epiphone Emperor was the perfect instrument for him. He used it to record his two albums of jazz standards.

And the Min Tanaka stuff is wonderful! Tanaka is a great butoh dancer. The footage of one of their performances is on youtube. They also recorded one of their performances and pressed it.

Here's some footage.

Oh, and to get this thread back on topic, here's my Eastman 186 again.

I changed the pickups to Fralin humbuckers because some places I play produce way too much hum with single coils. The neck position is a Big Single and the bridge is a p-92. Both sound fantastic.

I have no issues with neck heaviness. The guitar is incredibly versatile, especially with the pickups in it now. You can't beat a hollow guitar with a carved spruce top that doesn't feed back.

Attachment 55290

Interesting that you have a Spruce top and the larger fret markers ....I imagine the Spruce deepens the tone more than Maple ...
Eastman does not seem to offer Spruce now...

[Roy Balmer]

I have recently bought a used T186. Manufactured in 2007, it has a solid spruce top and mahogany back and sides and no pick guard.I hadn't heard of another one with a spruce top until now. I did contact Eastman who told me it was one of their early guitars made to order but they have no other information. It is a thing of beauty and sounds beautiful as well.

[Robertkoa]

I have seen those and am curious if they go considerably beyond the typical 335 sound.



I have seen a few new T186MX Spruce models for Sale at Dealers ( not physically but Online ) in last two years .

Eastman says they don't offer that in Spruce ( lol ) .


I assume some Dealers special order them.



Dealers in my area only carry the Acoustic Eastmans ...

[wepeters09]

Striking up an old thread...

Found, what was advertised as a T484 at an auction and grabbed it for an unbelievable price. Received it and realized it wasn't a T484 - Full 16" lower bout, maple top/back/neck, fully carved.

Reached out to Eastman who responded within a day or two with:

"Definitely not a T484 as we never built them with a straight logo (also appears to be larger than a 14” lower bout). We did not do any of the carved thinlines with nickel hardware during the “straight logo” time period (2005-2009), (it was always gold) so it appears that the hardware has been swapped after market (the reverse “Peter Green” mounting of the neck pickup and the visible wiring harness through the f-holes is another clue).

Through the f-holes I can see that the back appears to be solid maple which rules out a T186MX (the X indicated mahogany). We did do some maple/maple thinlines during that time. So if it is 16” across the lower bout that would make it a T186MM (or a T185MM if it is 15” across)."








Bless Eastman for being so helpful!