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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.
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12-29-2021 02:32 PM
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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
Originally Posted by helios
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.
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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. Originally Posted by AKA
Also, I have a TOM bridge on it.
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I've shared this Eastman video before, but I must share it again as I enjoy the gentleman's tone & confident playing:
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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.
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People need to stop praising Eastman archtop s. That way i'll have more to buy cheap....
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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.
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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.
Last edited by jumpnblues; 06-10-2023 at 11:04 AM.
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Saw this today and thought some here might be interested [apologies for the sales pitch it contains but she probably does deserve some support]
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Lol. Well, you do have to like the Benedetto sound to own one, no? Originally Posted by mickmac
I own a Cabaret since a March this year. It's probably much more guitar than I'm currently capable of exploiting but I continue to think that the QC isn't up to par with the price these cost. Fortunately they are largely aesthetic on my instrument (finish glitches in the headstock slots, a big glue drop and a chisel gash in the middle of the interior side of the back) but there are also a few frets that haven't been seated as I consider one can expect on a 3+k guitar. And the trussrod maxes out at a relief that is still very playable (that could be a design flaw?).
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The Cabaret seems to be one of the least-loved Eastmans. But I could be wrong.
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What do you base that on? I haven't heard anyone say a real bad word about them (except "it doesn't sound like a classical guitar", which I don't even completely agree with), I don't think I've ever seen anyone selling theirs and shops also don't seem to offload them for significant discounts because they don't sell.
Instead, several owners said things like "I have (a) better (or "real concert") guitar(s) but at home I usually grab the Cabaret because it's so much fun to play". That kind of feedback is what motivated me to spring for one when I was really gassing for an unobtanium nylon-string archtop.
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The Eastman403 503 372 that I own get out of the house more often than my Benedetto Bambino . That said the Bambino is the best guitar out of the 60 I have owned since 1955. mickmac
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I always enjoy her reviews. Very easy to listen to.
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I love my Cabaret.Got it new for $2,200 last year.The James May pickup on it is the best acoustic pickup i have ever used.Everyone i know who has played it has more than liked it. Originally Posted by Oscar67
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My AR610ce arrived a few months ago. Not the current version, the previous version with the floating pickup and the hidden vol/tone controls. I think it’s an incredible value. Carved spruce top, carved mahogany back and sides. Mine has ebony fingerboard, bridge, tailpiece and headstock. It’s incredibly sensitive, has no wolf tones, and with the mahogany is warmer and fuller in tone than the maple ones (805/10, 905/10) while being equally clear. The frets are perfect, and I’ve spotted no flaws at all in the materials or construction.
Can you get a better guitar? Yeah, probably. Can you get anything like this at this price? Probably not.
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Are you certain it's an Ultratonic? Mine doesn't, and according to Buscarino, Eastman never managed to figure out how to install it so they went back to an LRBaggs UST. I think that was longer than 1 year ago. My vendor also had the guitar listed as equipped with the Ultratonic but that was very not the case and they corrected their site as soon as I relayed John's message. Originally Posted by nyc chaz
Did you somehow manage to get her new?? Originally Posted by coyote-1
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Yes. A few new ones are popping up in old store stock. Guitars&Jazz had two (with the usual rosewood components) last I looked a couple weeks ago, though both are $500 more than I paid. I got incredibly lucky. Originally Posted by RJVB
I have trouble understanding why Eastman is now choosing to build these with the pickups and electronics mounted into the solid carved top. It’s sooo similar to the 503ce, while losing the benefits of the unencumbered top.
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Like any successful manufacturer of any product, they build what sells.
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We manufacture music. By definition in the year 2023, anyone manufacturing jazz guitar music is not successful.
One would hope that there is room for niche fulfillment. Else every manufacturer eventually becomes a purveyor of Strat copies (PRS?). Must ‘success’ ALWAYS become about winning the race to the bottom? Originally Posted by sgosnell
Last edited by coyote-1; 11-21-2023 at 10:40 PM.
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My Cabaret has no battery pack.Baggs do,so yes i am pretty certain. Originally Posted by RJVB
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Idem, but as SGO says, it must sell and is probably cheaper to (chain-)produce... (though I don't think they have become cheaper as a result!) Originally Posted by coyote-1
The definite test would be looking through the sound hole or port to see if there's an UST. The Ultratonic has soundboard transducers instead. Originally Posted by nyc chaz
According to the original promo video the PU used to be "a Baggs LB6 which is a passive pickup and requires no battery". (Mine seems to have "Element" stamped on the interior part of the end-plug which probably contains some kind of preamp. It's good enough to connect a DI tuner
)
If you do got one with the UT you got very lucky. IIRC Buscarino asks as $400 upcharge on the ones he sells, for fixing any QC issues, installing a micro-intonated saddle and the Ultratonic.
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Manufacturing merchandise which doesn't sell is a sure way to bankrupt a company. Any company manufacturing anything. If consumers show a preference for something, that's what will be provided. Buggy whips, CRT TVs, etc are no longer being made. There are niche products in production, but the market has to be big enough to return a profit to the manufacturer, and most manufacturers are not interested in making small runs of niche products. That's just a fact of economic life.
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Don’t know how you can argue “not selling” when the stores have ZERO of these to sell. I remember back around 2002 being out with a friend, and stopping into a local store. They had a dozen Eastmans. I played one and was impressed. A few months later I returned there to examine them again with an eye to perhaps a layaway purchase, and they’d all been sold. And that store never got Eastmans again after that. No other local stores carry them.
Ash and MF? They never carried Eastman as far as I know.
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Sure, but producing competing products isn't very different. If they continue to produce the earlier mentioned model with set PU and controls, why add a very similar one? One that's expensive to produce too if we assume that they just changed the way PU and controls are installed on an otherwise identically built body. Originally Posted by sgosnell
Then again they already had the AR8x0 and AR9x0 series which to me are essentially the same.
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