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Interesting for sure! My 16” Jazz Elite was made in November’21, which means it’s poly per that article. If so, it’s very well done and seems to fulfill their goals for it.
Originally Posted by John A.
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02-28-2023 08:45 AM
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I’m not sure which mine has (I got it used and don’t have the case candy showing when it was made), but I assume poly based on the serial # (2021 + a high number). Just for the halibut, I sent an email to Eastman asking if the can tell me what finish it has. Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
I’m very skeptical that finish type makes a difference in the sound of the guitar. I think it’s cool the way nitro ages and is repairable. But then again it’s cool the way polys don’t age and don’t need to be repaired.
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Looks lovely-- and I'll be the third or fourth saying that I really like the lighter back color too.
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On guitars that are at least somewhat resonant. I do think I can hear a difference between thick mass production poly and thin, hand laid finishes (nitro, French polish, light oils, and even unfinished wood). I’ve sanded poly off inexpensive guitars (hollow and solid) and found them to sound more open and balanced with no finish as well as after I rubbed them with a bit of tung oil or Truoil. Truly cheap planks and heavy laminates don’t respond, but I’ve “improved” a few decent inexpensive beaters with sanding, light finishing, better hardware, and meticulous setup. Originally Posted by John A.
Chips in poly are easily filled with a tiny dot of plain old liquid cyanoacrylate. I dip the tip of a very fine tipped brush into a tiny pool of the stuff in a “bowl” made by pressing a small square of aluminum foil over the end of my thumb. I wear a magnifying loupe and mask off all of the surrounding surface. One small drop will run out to the edges of the chip, but it takes practice to size that drop well. Too much will overlap the edge, and too little is hard to remedy because it’s hard not to overfill the tiny areas left bare or low with a second drop.
I’ve also used LOCA (liquid optically clear adhesive) to fill bigger dings. As with CA, you have to use the watery liquid form. It comes with a small UV “flashlight” to cure it, but the ones in most kits are not powerful enough to cure it quickly (if at all). If you do a lot of repairs, buy a good one for a few bucks more. LOCA will transmit and show the underlying finish almost as though there were no defect. It fills well and looks great over poly. I did use it over nitro on an old Carvin, and it looked great.
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Thickness could make a difference, though I remain skeptical about this for solidbodies, especially if you're introducing confounders such as removing some wood by sanding all the finish off and changing components and set-up. It would be interesting to see truly well controlled experiments on all this. (I assume you will post a link to something in 3-2-1 ...) Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
I didn't say poly couldn't be fixed. I said it didn't need to be (because it can take a lot of abuse), although I probably should have said this only about polyester (IME, polyurethane is not quite as indestructible). Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
Kudos, that's way beyond my skill..
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They are notorious for being loud. Originally Posted by RJVB
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This one surely lives up to that reputation. It seems at least as loud as my resonator... Originally Posted by Woody Sound
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The Cabaret arrived today in between an early visit to the vet with 2 coughing cats and another even further expedition to get some garden necessities. I finally got some time to
get acquainted only after diner.
Beautiful woods, really nice voice but I'm a little bit underwhelmed by the finish (the Cordoba was definitely better in that regard), intonation is a little bit iffy on the 2nd and 3rd strings and I think I'll need to find a higher tension 6th or increase its action because it clatters against the 2nd or 3rd fret when I dig in. Of course the strings are new, the guitar needs to acclimatise and I'm really tired.
The instrument had been shipped via UPS, and turned up in a big cardboard box with guitars printed on it, with a rip in the side. I was surprised that the UPS lady asked me to open and verify the contents before marking the delivery as accepted (here in France we usually no longer have to sign for delivery). Packaging was fairly minimal with just a few layers of thick paper holding the hardcase in place. Fortunately I didn't notice the little blemish I saw later, or I'd probably have refused the shipment. There's what looks like a pressure or impact mark on the edge of the fingerboard, right next to the nut (we've had a thread about shipping damage at that location!). Taking a better look it turns out it's most likely a small chip that's missing from the black plastic veneer which holds the side-dots and thus a priori purely cosmetic.
I'll be doing a more thorough report in a couple of days.
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I have a Buscarino Cabaret (7-string) - it would be fun to play side-by-side next to an Eastman version (even if 6-string) one day. But if it's anything close to mine then I expect you will be very happy.
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I think there are enough Eastman Cabaret owners on here that you could make that happen through a post on here
I think that I'm experiencing the old phenomenon that a much better instrument can seem so much worse than what you're used to because it's so much less unforgiving of errors and inappropriate technique (i.e. it highlights them). I guess (hope) that's what's giving me the "ouch, false" vibes, signalling that my strings have drifted again. Funny though how I'm more accepting of not being perfectly in tune on instruments I'm used to, I wonder how much the presence of a soundport plays in this kind of thing!
I also hope that I'll be able to ease down the relief a bit after we get used to each other. Not that it's too high at the moment, it's right where I'm used to ... but I seem to have maxed it out already.
BTW: there's indeed a battery in a pouch velcroed against the neckblock, even harder to access than if it had been in the lower bout. Or is that not a battery? How to be certain which electronics are really in there, btw? The images on the James May site suggest the Ultratonic has only a single pot, plus what looks like an on/off switch, on just a PCB. Mine has 2 pots in a smokey-transparent plastic casing, no switch that I can find. Eastman's website is of no help because it still mentions the LR-Baggs...
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If it is a battery pact on your Cabaret then you probably have the Baggs installed and not the James May.Best way to find out is to email Eastman with the serial number of the guitar and see what they say or wait for a weekday and call them.
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Yep, battery pouch and an UST.
Inspired by a message above I sent an email to John Buscarino to ask about putting on a particularly heavy 6th string on (question he never answered) and FYI him with some QC observations.
Bummer, but at least now I don't have to feel bad about yanking all that and increasing the area of direct contact between the saddle and top. I do feel a bit bummed by the fact I could have gotten the guitar for almost 500€ less. I noticed that not long after closing the deal on mine - stupidly I hadn't even bothered to search for one since I knew they're unobtainium and TFOA had a few in stock. And now I can no longer write the price difference off to the difference in pickup... Originally Posted by John Buscarino
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The guitar is beginning to open up nicely, and hearing her in my school's concert "hall" the other day I was actually quite pleased with the sound (despite 2 PB-wound bass strings that are taking a bit longer to mellow out).
But this is the last new instrument I buy untried, even at over 3k€ Eastman can apparently not be trusted to have sweatshop workers who manage to seat all frets properly.
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John Buscarino has one for sale too, and with him you'll get one that's probably been set up as well as the original (and the James May PU). Originally Posted by bmw2002
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I actually now have a Buscarino Cabaret in Cedar and an Eastman Cabaret in Spruce (both 6-string...learning 7-string was too big of a project). The idea is that the Eastman will be the one I take outside in the sun, to the park, on road trips, etc. I'm mostly playing nylon now and am only keeping one steel string archtop. Originally Posted by RJVB
I think there are enough Eastman Cabaret owners on here that you could make that happen through a post on here
The Buscarino definitely sounds better (my lady strongly concurs), but the Eastman is no slouch and in terms fit/finish the Eastman is almost perfect. It looks like the fretboard got a little scratch when they were installing frets, and some of the finish applied to the maple sides bled into the soundhole so the inner rim has a little bit of finish bleed, but other than that I must say the Eastman is perfect in its fit/finish. I'm talking Collings level fit/finish. Again, the Buscarino sounds clearly better...but the Eastman is still a very nice guitar. My Buscarino is with a local tech for a set-up and, in its absence, practicing on the Eastman is still very satisfying.
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The Buscarino is roughly 3x the price of the Eastman, so it would be a bit of an affront if the latter were the better guitar. That said, in this case "sounding better" can clearly coincide with personal taste, i.e. preference for cedar vs. spruce. Is your Buscarino not a double top, btw?
I can only concur with the fit/finish observations. My Eastman also has finish bleed (ooze would be a better term) in the soundholes, and they didn't get all parts of the headstock equally. There's also a big drop of glue on the back (wonder where that dripped off from!), and a chisel mark (allowing me to prove it was hand-carved...), plus a few frets that are just not perfectly installed. I still have to decide on getting a new saddle made to address the buzzing that can cause, or forcing myself to adapt my technique because the action is about what it should be. (Again, with the trussrod maxxed out so that's a worry).
I discovered the (hopefully) last QC issue only a few weeks ago. I'm used to getting some saddle buzz on the 6th strings on every guitar I play that requires regular attention to the saddle slot/surface, and periodically I check if there's really no other explanation for it. Last time I noticed what looked like a maybe 1cm wide slit under the bridge, right under the 6th string, and sure enough I can (just) slide a piece of printer paper under it.
Yikes! A few emails to TFOA, JB himself and a trip to a local CG luthier later and the verdict is that there's nothing to worry about as long as the saddle remains as perfectly perpendicular to the top as it is, but still... Eastman themselves were CC'ed on my initial email, but never replied
And no, tapping on and around the bridge doesn't reveal any alarming sounds and pressing down on it or on the top right behind the bridge doesn't affect the buzz. Holding a nail lightly against the string there it comes off the saddle does, so it must really be a saddle buzz.
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As primarily a classical guitarist that is doing more jazz lately, how do these Cabaret models differ sound wise from a concert level classical guitar? Do people primarily play with fingers or a plectrum? That Eastman is a cool looking guitar!
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The ad talk in the official Eastman promo video is actually pretty accurate. To me, the instrument sounds like I'd want a classical to sound: not boomy but with still a powerful bass, powerful, singing trebles and a cello-like mid-range. The carved, arched back gives part of the characteristic that set an acoustic archtop apart from a ditto flattop. I should be comparing mine to a Ramirez 1a later this year, to see if she's as powerful/loud as those are, but I can already say that she's about as loud as my nylon-strung resonator.
I've only heard mine very briefly in the hands of my new teacher, and my impression was that he sounded like him as far as I know his playing already. That's rather a point in favour for a serious instrument, I'd say.
There's not golpeador installed off the factory so it's an instrument that's clearly more intended to be played with classical technique, IMHO.
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Regular Western Cedar top, not a double top, but up-spec'd to Honduran Rosewood back/sides. In this case, "better" is not about spruce vs. cedar preferences. The Buscarino has nicer highs, fuller bass, better sustain. It's not a subtle difference. But I still think the Eastman is good value. Originally Posted by RJVB
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OK, so apparently it's about rosewood vs. maple preference, because those 3 difference correspond Originally Posted by coolvinny
Either way, the Eastman was already at the high end of my budget and it's more than good enough for me. Fuller bass and more sustain on top of (or rather under) a cedar top would probably make it sound too much like a regular classical to my taste. (And there are probably a LOT of really nice and European-built classicals in the 3.5-9.0k€ segment.)
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For anyone in the wesy interested, I noticed this:
Just a moment...
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TFOA upped their price almost 13% (600€) since March last year, wow! Weren't guitar sales supposed to be slowing?
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I think things are getting lost in translation, or I do not understand your French sense of humour, but in any case this has been a great reminder as to why posting here is a waste of my time. Originally Posted by RJVB
OK, so apparently it's about rosewood vs. maple preference, because those 3 difference correspond
Either way, the Eastman was already at the high end of my budget and it's more than good enough for me. Fuller bass and more sustain on top of (or rather under) a cedar top would probably make it sound too much like a regular classical to my taste. (And there are probably a LOT of really nice and European-built classicals in the 3.5-9.0k€ segment.)
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I think you're trying to read things between the lines that aren't there (and not living up to your pseudo about it).
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