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Well, I finally splurged. As explained in my "Madrid thread", I realised the only nylon string archtop that's currently really on the market and within my budget has a string spacing that I'm familiar with and I decided is narrower than I want for the guitar I "need" at the moment.
All the other options I'd been looking at had already been taken off the list because I just wasn't convinced about the sound in the available videos and/or because they'd have to be built or ordered from outside the EU.
Remaining contender: the Eastman Cabaret, a bit above what I'd hoped to spend and considerably above what I feel is justified for my current level of playing, but the 2 vendors at tfoa.eu whom I dealt with helped me forget about that. Very helpful, even more so than the vendor where I bought my ill-fated Cordoba a few months ago, and in this case they already had 3 of the guitars in stock, from which we chose the nicest:
I'm not the biggest fan of the colour they used for the back but the woods are beautiful as far as I can tell.
I'm getting the hardcase exchanged for one of their own gigbags because that's just easier for me to store. The guitar is currently waiting to for a few sets of strings I had to order from elsewhere to get a check&set-up with those strings, and then she'll be sent off to France.
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02-26-2023 09:12 AM
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Beautiful! Including the color of the back, IMO.
Originally Posted by RJVB
I'm not the biggest fan of the colour they used for the back but the woods are beautiful as far as I can tell.
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gorgeous
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Hubba Hubba! She is a beauty. Let us know what you think after she has been with you for a bit. I have a superb classical, but it is so different in feel to my other guitars that I sometimes think about selling her to a classical player and buying a hybrid. And the Eastman Cabaret is one that I have been considering.
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I will be in NYC next week and had been looking forward to trying one of these at Rudy’s SoHo store, which recently listed one as being in stock. Just checked, and it’s gone. Doot! I think there is literally one of these for sale in the US at the moment that I can find (Reverb). These have been tough to find since they were introduced.
RJVB’s Cabaret is beautiful and looks like it’s equipped with the new James May Ultratonic (sp?) pick-up.
Nice score!
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I acquired my Cabaret early last year.As i stated in another thread,if you expect a pure classical guitar sound you may be disappointed.I do love it for fingerstyle pop and bossa nova's.The thing that makes it a winner for me is the ultraphonic pickup.Best acoustic pickup i have ever heard.Hopefully yours has this and not the previous Baggs.The build quality is really beautiful by Eastman.Looking forward to hear what you think when you get it.Enjoy and play it in good health.
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Yes, this one is supposed to have the James May PU (which apparently requires a battery contrary to the LR Baggs they installed before). How would one see from the pictures above that it has the James May??
Personally I'd be disappointed if mine does happen to sound like a typical classical! Originally Posted by nyc chaz
I'm not fond of the often somewhat fuzzy and bass-heavy-if-not-boomy piano-like sound that seems to be the norm for modern CGs.
I let a lute and early romantic guitar playing friend listen to some recordings, and her verdict was not the expected "too modern sounding for me" but "really beautiful". So there's hope
I'm curious how the initial acquaintance is going to be. I had no surprises in that aspect with my Loar (worth new about 2x what I played at that time) but this is a nylon-stringer that's worth almost 4x my Cordoba so it might well amplify all my bad habits
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Guitars n Jazz in NJ has at least one listed as being in stock on their website. Originally Posted by bmw2002
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I took a peek at the tfoa.eu website for the specs of the Eastman Cabarets they had in stock …. and made the logic leap that yours was similarly equipped with the James May. Originally Posted by RJVB
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RJVB,just so you know the James May pickup does not have a battery which is just another reason to love it.
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Indeed! Interesting, I read that somewhere about the LR Baggs that was used before, but then was told by an Cabaret owner that his had a battery pouch under the trussrod nut. The JM also doesn't use an UST from what I understood, which I find even more important. The should have mounted the control(s) in the soundport opening though, rather than hanging them off the top.
The James May website should a toggle switch on the control PCB; why would something battery-less have an on/off switch?
BTW, I found another one for sale at "Rome Instruments" in Paris, for 500€ less - and apparently still equipped with the LR Baggs. That price difference suggest this is not a simple case of an outdated website.
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Congrats. Eastman makes fantastic acoustic guitars. Just picked up a steel string myself and am blown away by how good it is.
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Too bad you didn’t get the one on Reverb. It’s got a much darker back. Beautiful guitar though.
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I like RJVB’s a lot more. Here’s the back of my Jazz Elite -
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Just judging from the 2 photos I also prefer mine.
That's nicer. A bit more red than yellowish/brown I'd say, a bit more like my former violin which paid for the Eastman... Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
Here’s the back of my Jazz Elite -
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I like your one. It reminds me of a Heritage type finish.
Very nice!
What lacquer/finish do they use?
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If you mean mine, it's nitro. I suspect that the Cabaret is also nitro, but I don't know this for sure. Eastman does very fine finishing. My 810CE7 is French polished. Originally Posted by ArchtopHeaven
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No word on the finish other than that it's gloss in the official Cabaret specs.
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I received my Eastman Caberet from John Buscarino. I had called to express my frustration in finding one ( the one or two out there all had the Baggs pickup). He had just received one that day! I told him consider it sold. He upgraded the tuners, did his own setup, and yes the James May is amazing. I took it to my weekly gig and couldn't put it down. I also have a Kenny Hill Signature and a Kohno. You can play classical on this guitar. At least I do. Pat Metheny tunes work very well, Jobim, whatever. Congrats on finding one you're going to love it.
Last edited by jaco1; 02-27-2023 at 05:54 PM.
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Thx. My teacher has a Kohno, I think one from the mid 70s. A real cannon. Of course she also knows how to play it
(and since she still applies the school's covid rules about touching pupils' instruments I probably won't get her to do a comparison
)
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I would love it if Eastman made the Cabaret with cedar instead of spruce.I think Buscarino did make some of his Cabarets with cedar.Cedar just gives that warmer sound.
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I don't care for cedar at all (in flat-tops at least) but I probably would have liked to have a 14-th fret neckjoin option.
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Originally Posted by nevershouldhavesoldit
If you mean mine, it's nitro. I suspect that the Cabaret is also nitro, but I don't know this for sure. Eastman does very fine finishing. My 810CE7 is French polished.
From what I understand, Eastman stopped using nitro in 2021 for sprayed finishes, and are now using something they call "Truetone" (a polyurethane). The transition is mentioned here, and there are posts about it on the Eastman Fans forum site. Anything spec'd as either a gloss or satin finish made since the switch is that. They also still have some models listed with "antique varnish" finishes, which is French-polish shellac (don't know what solvent it uses), but anything made since somewhere mid-2021 won't be nitro. Originally Posted by RJVB
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Would love to know how it plays/sounds, and about feedback. It looks great, and I think the back color is gorgeous! Here's what I've been using for amplified nylon Latin jazz/bossa:
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Me too, but it'll be a few more days; she's currently still waiting for my strings to be delivered, with which she'll be set up. Originally Posted by Woody Sound
You won't be hearing much about feedback from playing amplified from me though; I don't even have an amp and even if I had I don't think I'd be playing at levels where feedback becomes an issue (as far as I understand).
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