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If I can give my thoughts and observations on this guitar.
I purchased this one from a French retailer that essentially sells keyboards. It was an amazing price 1499€. I was watching the T64 since a few weeks. Almost buyed it at full retail price, here in France is 1999€. The salesman explained me, after my enquiry concerning the low price tag, he explained he made a kind of mistake ordering archtop guitars, not having the right persons for that kind of instrument.
Received the guitar in 24 hours. Wow.
Now for the guitar itself..
Clean package, everything ok.
When inspecting, one of the knobs was completely loose (not the ankor, the knob turning on it's axe). No big deal, a piece of tape around the axe and it's OK.
Then I hear a thing moving in the guitar. Shake it all over and small black rectangular piece of felt falls out from the body.. What's that?
Nevermind, I swap the strings for 12-48 pure nickels right away.
Now here's the story. The top vibrates like hell, something unbearable.
I try the guitar for a few days, and what the heck, can't find where this buzz comes from.
I de string it and unscrew the pickups
What I find is the neck pickup has the same piece of felt on the right side of the anchor, not on the left side.
So this is where that piece of material was in the body of the guitar.. And that buzz from hell.
I decided to do things right, I cut precisely little pieces of leather under and upper of the pickup mountings. Magic.. No even small vibration after putting back the strings on.
So this is my piece of advice.
Going further, the Gotoh aged tuners are crappy bad. Don't stay in tune, a swap is essential.
And.. Great it's a fantastic guitar!
Clean distinctive note séparation, neck is fabulous, awesome instrument.
But you have to give a bit
Quite annoying for that kind of money, but details count, and they are not that complicated in my case, with some experience
A novice might not understand
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12-12-2020 11:12 AM
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And for the tip, the guy sells an Ar371 for 699 €. He's really a nice guy, and tip top seller.
No relationship with him, and great deal
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AR 371CE - Backline & Piano
For the good deal
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I bought a used T64v in the summer. The one with the Bigsby. Had tried two of them which didn't much impress. This one does much impress. It has a beautiful, round acoustic voice ... fun to play unplugged. Plugged in, the Lollars are perfect. I think the ebony board is significant in the sound. Seems to impart an edge. Whether or not that's true, the Lollar P90s have this distinctive sound. "Old school" for lack of a better description. A lively, fat sound on the neck p/u. Notes expand when you hold them at higher volumes.
I had it set up by the talented Rob Engel. Who rarely says much about what I bring him. This Eastmen, he enjoyed playing. "It sounds like every old sound I've heard." I know what he means. The pickups are that good.
The Bigsby operates very smoothly. It's the rare Bigsby with a tension bar that I can live with. This one is an exception.
The guitar is not without flaws. The tuners would benefit from a change. The neck radius on mine gets tighter as you go up the neck. The exact opposite of what would be preferable. I might refret it someday, have the radius adjusted a bit. In the meantime, as Rob suggested, I will "play the hell out of it."
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That's a good description, "old school" vibe.
I play it on a Gibson GA6T amp, with the swampy tremolo full on at times, it just vibrates all over the room, very inspiring.
I have had a Es 330 a few years back, that I found quite exceptional
I had to sell it for financial reasons.
The T64 is just as good, but different, hence the maple neck and ebony fretboard that bring their own sonic signature.
The neck is really fabulous, wide flat I suppose
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Sorry to hear about your issues with the T64 Jx. I had zero issues with mine. But to be honest, the tuners are not the best I guess. Even though they're Gotoh, the 'relic' thing (which I don't get at all) gets in the way of practicality. They're stiff and the design with too much string angle gets in the way. Stability is fine though.
But man, the tone of the T64 is superb, as is the playability. I love the neck, the light weight and there's even a bit of thunk in the bass strings.
I have three Eastmans and they are all great.
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I’m still loving mine also. I haven’t had any issues with the tuners.
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Question for the T64 owners: how is the top supported? Does Eastman use 2 parallel braces (tonebars)? Or a thin kerfed spruce plate/block à la the ES-330? Or a more substantial floating block like the Epiphne Casino has? And no sound post?
(This subject has become somewhat of a pet peeve to me ;-)Last edited by Little Jay; 12-14-2020 at 12:25 PM.
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After poking around with a dental mirror, mine appears to have a thin (approx. 1/2”) Kerfed center plate supporting the top. No sound post.
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Thanks! Ah! Same as the ES-330 also!
Originally Posted by Mark M.
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If I'm not mistaken, it seems to also have two parallel bars, a very light wood, that feels like some kind of spruce? I don't really know, I'm not an expert
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I'm going to receive new tuners tomorrow, Gotoh SD90 MG T (locking tuners with a thumbweel)
So I'll be tweaking the guitar a bit little bit.
I'm wonndering the benefit of mounting the strings above the tension bar? The break angle is very steep mounted under the tension bar. It's fine, but I'm just wondering..
To report back concerning the vibration I had, it has totally and durably (it seems) disappeared since I stabilized the P90 with small pieces of leather. It seems that issue was really due to the pickups, not the lutherie.
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I did that once, on a Guild Bluesbird. Motivated by stiff playing action. It got a little less stiff with the string over the tension bar, but did not feel right at all. That guitar had a significant angle, neck to body. Too much. The bridge was up high even with low action. The steep angle off that bridge was really steep. Ended up selling it. Originally Posted by Jx30510
No such problem with my T64V. It plays so easily, sounds beautiful. The Bigsby is smooth and precise, not hard to use at all. Given the sound and ease of play, I think they got the neck angle and distance between the Bigsby and the bridge just right. So I'm not tempted to try that strings over the tension bar trick. No need.
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with a bigsby that is the proper one for the guitar, the tension bar keeps the angle from bigsby to bridge correct..so that strings don't jump the saddle slots...by going over the tension bar, you lessen that angle and can possibly create string jumping and a floppy loose feel...also you will have more intonation problems when using the bigsby arm
not really recommended
the common bigsby rule is, if the guitar has a floating bridge than a bigsby with no tension bar is used...like a B-6 or B-11...if the bridge is a fixed in body design, then the tension bar is required...like a bigsby B-7 or B-12
cheers
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Real good information, thanks!
That's what I think, strings over the tension bar might also not be sufficient to drive the top
I'll have a look with the string angle when setting it up, just to test by eye if it looks flimsy at first sightLast edited by Jx30510; 12-18-2020 at 08:19 AM.
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If the break angle is too steep, you could try a BiggsFix:
BricksBiggsFix | Tuning Stabilizers and Guitar Accessories
Or do what I do with Bigsby B5s on Teles: remove the sleeve from the axle of the tension bar on the Bigsby - your strings will ride 1 or 2 mm higher under the tension bar, sometimes that's all that it takes...
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Yes I'm aware of that solution, removing the sleeve from the tension bar, but what I found out searching how to do it on a B7 is it looks pretty hard to do (removing the circlip)
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So I changed the tuners for GOTOH SD90 Magnum lock with nickel oval heads (I really don't like at all those chunky greenish plastic deluxe things)
They are as light, I compared the "play" in the axe, wobbly on the Deluxe Sd90, absolutely sturdy and no movement with the Magnum locks. They ARE much better, no doubt.
A delight to install, direct swap, very easy to mount the strings, and no more tuning problems.
Cool.
I had a Graphtech Resomax with string savers in my box of spare parts, also a Tone Pros Abr1.
I compared all three, GOTOH, Tone Pro and Resomax. The latter was a clear winner. It's very lightweight, and it enhanced the acoustic power dramatically. It's also a very tight fit on the axes, so it stays without a move when using the Bigsby.
Further more, the string savers are self lubricate and the Bibsgy is far more reactive.
Real good upgrade.
Now for the break angle, I'll live with it for now. The guitar is so good now that I don't want to touch anything else. I mean, it's as loud as my Martin Dreadnought Junior! Not as bassy of course, but just as loud acoustic power
The Lollar P90 pickups are fabulous.
The bridge and neck mixed together with tweaking each volume and tone controls bring an incredible array of sounds (and I usually don't really like the middle position)
So this is my dream guitar coming to life, and it will stay for sure.
I heartly recommend it
Have a merry musical Christmas
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Congrats on the beautiful guitar. Eastman have been my main guitar discovery of 2020 (I have a new AR503CE). I love the Gibson aesthetic too and have been considering the T64v or an AR372 next year.
The 503 is my first archtop and is very addictive, Ive played it 90% of the time since I got it despite having other really nice (and significantly pricier) guitars to choose from. It is very sensitive to the minutiae of setup and amp settings though, which may just be an "archtop thing". I'm thinking the T64 might be the best of both worlds.
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Do you have a link for these tuners? I can't find locking SD90 tuners in nickel, but maybe I'm doing something wrong. Originally Posted by Jx30510
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Hello everyone, I wake up this topic. I recently purchased a T64 Red Varnish. This guitar has many assets, lightness, the handle, as it is underlined in all the previous post, is marvelously very well designed. The pickups are perfect for both clean and saturax. Indeed the mechanics have a ratio which is not optimal but nothing catastrophic for me, and it holds the agreement perfectly. This guitar is really a success for Eastman company. There was the ES 330 and the Casino now you have to reckon with the T64. I quickly recorded a few notes with mine.
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