Eastman AR910C Uptown ACOUSTIC archtop

[Rob MacKillop]

No. (ashamed!). I don't play gigs these days, so was just using it at home and found it too loud - a neighbor complained! I now have the 910CE version, which despite what others think is not the same guitar with a cutaway and a floating pickup added. It is quieter, much less of a canon, but still of the same high quality. My understanding is that they are carved differently, internally. But as far as acoustic archtop's go, the 910 cannot be beaten (in price, that is!). Both guitars are stellar.

Here's the 910CE played one month ago:

[Oscar67]

Beautifully played and wonderful tone! Thank you for sharing.

The grain on the spruce top really pops out in your video. If I keep mine then I might add a floating Lollar Johnny Smith. Not sure yet, but something like that has already been on there in the past so the holes are already in the neck.

[Rob MacKillop]

Yeah, the grain is crazy. It busts the myth that a good top should have close grain!

[nyc chaz]

No. (ashamed!). I don't play gigs these days, so was just using it at home and found it too loud - a neighbor complained! I now have the 910CE version, which despite what others think is not the same guitar with a cutaway and a floating pickup added. It is quieter, much less of a canon, but still of the same high quality. My understanding is that they are carved differently, internally. But as far as acoustic archtop's go, the 910 cannot be beaten (in price, that is!). Both guitars are stellar.

Here's the 910CE played one month ago:

It's funny Rob,when i went on my quest years ago for a 910,i contacted Eastman about the difference between the cutaway and noncutaway and was told that minus the cutaway they were structurally the same.Having played both over the years,the noncutaway is indeed louder but tonal quality is pretty much the same.I bought the cutaway model and after experimenting with different strings,i think the 910 sounds best with roundwounds if you want to get the full tonal palette from this guitar.

[Rob MacKillop]

Interesting, Chaz. Someone else said they were carved differently. Certainly the tops on both my guitars were different. Odd.

In this video I'm using 'Soft Brass' round-wound strings from Philippe Bosset, but the first string broke (unusual for them), and I replaced it with a first from the TI-George Benson 14's set. I've never tried flat-wounds on either guitar.

Anyway, I think all who play these guitars will agree as to their excellent top-level quality.

[Oscar67]

Going much better already :-). I play the 910 for about 40 minutes each day, taking care not to strain my hand too much. One week in, the guitar starts to cooperate with me instead of opposing me. And when I switch to electric after those 40 minutes, watch out… The 910 sounds wonderful, very inspiring. So far, so good.

[Rob MacKillop]

Good news. Keep it up!

[jaymen]

Love everything about it with one exception, which is really only personal preference:
Like Guild, Epiphone,and some of the asian guitars, it has a large clumsy looking peghead profile that to me looks like an afterthought, because it's shape contrasts with the rest of the guitars gentle curves. .
Some of the Kay jazz guitars also had very exaggerated " Kelvinator" pegheads that detracted from the rest of the guitar's elegant shapes.

BTW, its a well known trick that eliminating the pickguard makes any archtop sound much better. Silvertones, Kays and Harmony guitars, along with many Hofners are therefore conspicuously missing them. Also, roundwound acoustic 80/20 phosphor bronze strings will really enhance the tone and depth of the E,A,D, and G strings, and allow you to play using .12 gauge string sets instead of .13-.14.