Eastman Guitars - Who has experience with them and what are your opinions?

[skykomishone]

The 880s are great. I would own one. I've played a ton of Eastman's and, like all archtop guitars, each has its own character. The ones I've played have been consistently good. That might be because they were vetted by the original owners, who are officianados, but generally I don't hear much in the way of horror stories about quality or setup. I know that John Pisano has played a significant part in vetting his series, which I find to be really good designs.

[AKA]

Helios,

That’s a beauty! I have a 16” Elite in blond (pictured in an earlier post.). I love it. I can imagine your’s sounds great. Did it come originally with a Lollar humbucker? What prompted you to replace it?

AKA

I purchased my Eastman Jazz Elite 17 from Guitars 'n Jazz in 2013 for $2250. It now has a Lindy Fralin Pure PAF & Jescar 47/104 fret wire. The body is 17" x 2.5" with heavy parallel bracing. Well made with cazy nice wood binding, it sounds great! I've seen used ones for around $1600.

[helios]

Helios,

That’s a beauty! I have a 16” Elite in blond (pictured in an earlier post.). I love it. I can imagine your’s sounds great. Did it come originally with a Lollar humbucker? What prompted you to replace it?

AKA

Hi, You're correct, my Jazz Elite 17 did come with Lollar Imperial which IS a fine pickup! I prefer a Lindy Fralin PAF so I sold the Lollar and put one in, since I was going to replace the the pots & wiring with higher grade components anyway.
Also, I have a TOM bridge on it.

[helios]

I've shared this Eastman video before, but I must share it again as I enjoy the gentleman's tone & confident playing:

[Tyneside52]

Let me start by saying I started trying to figure out how to play the guitar in 1980. I didn't fall in love with Gibsons until about 1989 and those Gibson's were from the 60s and 70s. I bought my first Eastman off craigslist in 2010 for $700. It was a T486. I didn't know a lot about them but was instantly a believer. At the time I owed a 96 Gibson ES335 and the Eastman was better in every way. I have always loved Taylor acoustic guitars. I owned a number of them over the years and worked my way up to my favorite model the 614ce.... after a number of years of owning it and thinking it was wonderful I played a Eastman ac522ce. After about an hour of playing it in the music store I hung it back up and went home where I instantly took out my Taylor and played it. A half hour later I was back at the music store buying the Eastman. The Taylor never came out of the case again until I sold it. The craftsman ship tone and quality all superior to the Taylor or any other acoustic in the price range of a 614ce. A few years later I decided I wasn't going to use my late 60s through mid 70s Gibson Les Paul's to gig with anymore so I started looking for adequate replacements. I automatically went for newer Gibsons. After buying 3 early 2000s Les Paul standards and 2 SG standards from the same year range and not being very happy with any of them I again looked to Eastman. I went to the music store and played a Eastman sb58 and sb59 and bought both. The Eastman SB58 and 59 are superior in every way to any Gibson Les Paul that has been made since the late 70s.

[mickmac]

People need to stop praising Eastman archtop s. That way i'll have more to buy cheap....

[skykomishone]

Different animal, but I just bought a 10 year old Samuel Eastman 3/4 upright bass from a friend, Model VB90, and had it professionally set up. It's a great jazz bass for me. I'm loving it.

[jumpnblues]

Eastman make outstanding instruments and they offer major value. I owned an Eastman AR580C for a couple years before (recently) purchasing a Heritage Eagle Standard Classic. The 580C is a fantastic guitar. You can't go wrong with an Eastman. Top quality and great tone and playability. But the Heritage is my dream guitar. It's a lifetime keeper.