Mini-Review - Hollow Body Thinlines

[Little Jay]

It was my day off today, so I cycled to the local music store for some testing. I wanted to try out the Gibson ES-330 Slim Harpo. Unfortunately that had just sold, but they were nice and it was quiet and I got to spend a good two hours playing the 330-derivatives they had hanging: Epiphone Casino Worn, Eastman T64, Eastman T64/v, The Heritage H-530. I used a Victoria tweed-amp with a 12” and reverb and tremolo (don’t know the model). All guitars had new roundwound strings, I think .010 or .011 (I much prefer bigger flatwounds, .012 at least).



Eastman T64, €1799
I had played this before but only unplugged. Now amplified and this is a very very nice guitar. Plays like butter and sounds great. But it sounds different from a Gibson ES-330 (I played those before). A little less deep and slightly brighter but also more precise and defined….. or something, hard to describe!



Eastman T64/v, €2059
This is the version with a bigsby vibrato. This one had the strings a little higher and a little more neck relief but still played well. It had noticeably less bass than the T64 and overall sounded more ‘chimey’. I immediately started playing different things. Great guitar as well, but the bigsby wouldn’t be my choice for a jazz guitar.



Heritage H530, €2999
Wow! I don’t know if it’s the mahogany neck and rosewood fretboard versus the maple neck and ebony fretboard of the Eastmans, or perhaps different P90s, but it had thát sound: deep and lush. Dark but still clear, round and singing. My favourite over the Eastmans! But because of the 19th fret neck joint and the hollow body it was a bit neck heavy.



Epiphone Casino Worn €466
I would never buy a blue guitar, but that was the only color they had hanging. Surprisingly good guitar considering its price! Played just as well and comfortable as the Eastmans and the Heritage! The P90s are noticeably darker (perhaps because of the metal covers?) but not as hot as I remember from earlier Casino’s. The neck is quite substantial, not as thin as on earlier Korean Casino’s. Sounded pretty darn good, perfectly useable for gigging but a bit flatter and less organic than the others. But it did have more ‘mahogany neck flavour’. I don’t like the worn finish: they don’t seem to use pore-filler so all the grains are visible and especially you feel them. It feels cheap imho. Still, at this price point and as a sufferer from MOD-syndrome I could already see myself sanding and stripping this guitar and refinish it in nitro and perhaps slap in some better P90s. I think then this thing would be serious competition for all the others while still being budget…..

It was a fun afternoon!

[Doctor Jeff]

Nice!

The Epiphone "Inspired by Gibson" ES-335 sure looks like a good deal. Are those available in your neck of the woods?

Epiphone | ES-335 Figured

[Little Jay]

Nice!

The Epiphone "Inspired by Gibson" ES-335 sure looks like a good deal. Are those available in your neck of the woods?

Epiphone | ES-335 Figured

They sure look like a good deal and they have mahogany necks indeed. But today I went for the hollow thinlines, not the semis. I have been playing my Gibson ES-333 (less ornate 335) for a long time, but lately I prefer the hollow bodies with P90s. Not really looking to buy another one btw, I’m perfectly happy with my 1950 ES-125 and my DIY “Cooper”ES-330/Casino clone.

I was curious how my DIY Cooper 330 would compare to a real Gibson 330, but unfortunately the one they had was just sold some days ago. (I think my Cooper does very well btw ;-)

[Jim Soloway]

I would assume that the maple/ebony neck and board on the Eastman would brighten things up considerably (especially the ebony). It seems to be a sound that Eastman likes. It shows up in a lot of their guitars.

[Little Jay]

I would assume that the maple/ebony neck and board on the Eastman would brighten things up considerably (especially the ebony). It seems to be a sound that Eastman likes. It shows up in a lot of their guitars.

Yes, it seems to be a choice of Eastman to create a sound of their own. Kudos for that, it takes courage I think. And it is a very good sound but a different type of sound than the Gibson-sound.

[Oldjock]

I’m sure the strings would have a big impact on the sound of any of the mentioned guitars.

[Little Jay]

I’m sure the strings would have a big impact on the sound of any of the mentioned guitars.

They all had new roundwounds. I like the sound and feel of flatwounds a lot better, which probably explains why I found my own build 330 play and sound better than any of these guitars - felt like coming home.

It’s always a bit of a problem when testing guitars in music stores - they almost never set ‘em up with flatwounds.

But since all guitars had the same strings I at least felt that I could compare them.

[ruger9]

Nice!

The Epiphone "Inspired by Gibson" ES-335 sure looks like a good deal. Are those available in your neck of the woods?

Epiphone | ES-335 Figured

I'm looking at one of their 339's myself. I have heard nothing but very good reviews of the 335/339 Epis in recent years.

[blille]

Very nice reviews, you know I like that style

The Casinos are really nice IME as well. Well built. I feel like Epiphone is pretty solid overall. The electronics/pickups may note be the best but that an easy fix.

I did own an Epi 335 for a while. I put a SD A2Pro in the neck and it was great.

Interesting that you found the heritage to be deep and lush in spite of the neck joint being higher.

[Hammertone]

I would assume that the maple/ebony neck and board on the Eastman would brighten things up considerably (especially the ebony). It seems to be a sound that Eastman likes. It shows up in a lot of their guitars.

Yes, it seems to be a choice of Eastman to create a sound of their own. Kudos for that, it takes courage I think. And it is a very good sound but a different type of sound than the Gibson-sound.

I think you give them too much credit. Almost all of their archtops are bright and lack bass response. IMO, they don't know how to make a fat-sounding archtop. Maybe they'll figure it out, but I suspect they have other fish to fry. I have found a few here and there - a Pisano or two, and an El Ray ER4 that I played at the Eastman booth at NAMM'19, that was just a great-sounding guitar.

[Little Jay]

I think you give them too much credit. Almost all of their archtops are bright and lack bass response. IMO, they don't know how to make a fat-sounding archtop. Maybe they'll figure it out, but I suspect they have other fish to fry. I have found a few here and there - a Pisano or two, and an El Ray ER4 that I played at the Eastman booth at NAMM'19, that was just a great-sounding guitar.

It is indeed only an assumption on my part, I don’t really know of course. But since they cling to maple necks and ebony fretboards it seemed a deliberate choice to me…. But perhaps it is as simple as that they have a big stock of maple and ebony woods and switchig to mahogany and rosewood is financially not lucrative for them, who knows. But indeed their guitars sound (sometimes a lot) brighter than the Gibson counterparts, or the Heritage, as I found out.

[Little Jay]

Very nice reviews, you know I like that style

The Casinos are really nice IME as well. Well built. I feel like Epiphone is pretty solid overall. The electronics/pickups may note be the best but that an easy fix.

I did own an Epi 335 for a while. I put a SD A2Pro in the neck and it was great.

Interesting that you found the heritage to be deep and lush in spite of the neck joint being higher.

I don’t think the 16th versus the 19th fret neck joint does an awful lot tonewise…. It does for the balance of the guitar! For this hollow model, the 16th fret joint feels a lot better to me.

Yes, I was pleasantly surprised by The Heritage. And perhaps I even prefer the Casino over the Eastmans….. but not the worn finish!

[Joeontheguitar]

I had two Eastman hollow bodies: the 403 and the 372. I also tried a T49 in the local guitar shop. They were indeed too bright, lacked sustain and sounded thin to me. But my T64 is the darkest sounding guitar I ever played. I bought it for my Beatles tribute band, but it transformed into my smokies jazz guitar when I strung it with TI Swing 012's. The difference with the round wounds was unbelievable.

Funny thing is that Guitars'n jazz has a complete line of Eastman guitars that are specifically made for them with 'heavy parallel bracing' which (I think) lacks in most standard Eastman arch tops.

I saw the exact same Heritage guitars at Max Jay and I think they have the same Lollars as the T64 have. So the difference in sound should be construction and strings only.

[mad dog]

I do find most Eastman archtops to be on the bright side. The thinline T64/v is different. I tried several. Not all are excellent. Inconsistent. When they fail to please, it's more due to lack of resonance, general deadness. When you find a good one (or should I say "if"), then the ebony board makes perfect sense. Which along with the wonderful Lollar P90s, add up to a different, worthy take on the ES-330 formula. My T64/v was a lucky find. Whatever they intended sonically, it sure does work with this one. More low end than expected. Balance across the strings. Alive feeling and sounding.

I can't be conclusive on this ... mine has the Bigsby. Way more alive a sound than the trapeze models I tried. Something to do with angle off the bridge?

That Heritage H530 is also a fine instrument. And IMO, due in no small part to the Lollar P90s. Way more consistent. I was looking for one of these when I happened to find the T64/v.

[Jim Soloway]

I think you give them too much credit. Almost all of their archtops are bright and lack bass response. IMO, they don't know how to make a fat-sounding archtop. Maybe they'll figure it out, but I suspect they have other fish to fry. I have found a few here and there - a Pisano or two, and an El Ray ER4 that I played at the Eastman booth at NAMM'19, that was just a great-sounding guitar.

You think? I just assumed that they liked thin and bright. It's been the voice of their guitars since the very beginning I figured someone in charge must like it.

[Tal_175]

Epiphone Casino Worn €466
I would never buy a blue guitar, but that was the only color they had hanging. Surprisingly good guitar considering its price! Played just as well and comfortable as the Eastmans and the Heritage! The P90s are noticeably darker (perhaps because of the metal covers?) but not as hot as I remember from earlier Casino’s. The neck is quite substantial, not as thin as on earlier Korean Casino’s. Sounded pretty darn good, perfectly useable for gigging but a bit flatter and less organic than the others. But it did have more ‘mahogany neck flavour’. I don’t like the worn finish: they don’t seem to use pore-filler so all the grains are visible and especially you feel them. It feels cheap imho. Still, at this price point and as a sufferer from MOD-syndrome I could already see myself sanding and stripping this guitar and refinish it in nitro and perhaps slap in some better P90s. I think then this thing would be serious competition for all the others while still being budget…..

It was a fun afternoon!

Yes the finish (or lack of it thereof) on the worn series doesn't look and feel very good. They are a budget option. Too bad they didn't have Epiphone's regular Casino's in the store. They have poly finish and some upgraded parts. I compared them recently and the regular was much nicer for a couple of hundred dollars more. Pickups are a bit dark but still have life in them. They are basically poly finished ES 330's for all intents and purposes I think.
https://www.epiphone.com/Guitar/EPIB...Casino/Natural

[blille]

I don’t think the 16th versus the 19th fret neck joint does an awful lot tonewise…. It does for the balance of the guitar! For this hollow model, the 16th fret joint feels a lot better to me.

I hear you. I've mostly played guitars with 16th fret joint but some folks swear it's a game changer in tone.

I'm personally used to the 16th f joint and find it more comfortable. It's not like I play that up anyway

[sgosnell]

Eastman learned to make archtop guitars from Benedetto's book. They follow his pattern almost exactly. Benedetto guitars don't sound like Gibsons either. And that's a good thing to many.

[Little Jay]

Eastman learned to make archtop guitars from Benedetto's book. They follow his pattern almost exactly. Benedetto guitars don't sound like Gibsons either. And that's a good thing to many.

I hear ya. For the T64 they had to be creative though, since I don’t think Benedetto covers that model? I didn’t stick my phone through the f-hole to take a pic of the bracing but I think I read somewhere the T64 uses the same kerfed spacer as the ES-330 and Casino.

Fun fact: the young sales guy from the store told me his father designed the T64 for Eastman!

[Joeontheguitar]

This is how the inside of the T64 looks like.
And the guy at Max Guitar is Bauke 't Hart, son of Pepijn 't Hart.

[Little Jay]

This is how the inside of the T64 looks like.
And the guy at Max Guitar is Bauke 't Hart, son of Pepijn 't Hart.

Thanks!!

Bauke is a very nice guy, it was a real pleasure talking to him and he let me do my thing without being pushy or trying to sell something. A good promotion for real life music stores instead of buying online!

Comparing the T64’s bracing to a 330’s, it shows that it’s thicker/deeper and with less kerfs, so I am inclined to think that the T64’s top would be somewhat stiffer and perhaps gives more sustain as well. (Although the wood used probably also plays a role).

I am still impressed by the T64, it’s a very nice guitar!

[sgosnell]

Benedetto offers multiple thinline hollowbodies, but not exactly like the T64. The Bambino and Bambino Deluxe are sort of similar, but single cutaway. There is also the Andy, 3/4 size, 12" lower bout, 23' scale.