Closest Eastman to a J-45

[Greg1075]

Short answer as already said by a few others is the E10SS.

I was recently on a similar hunt and was looking for a Gibon J series-looking slope shoulders. Note that I said looking and not sounding. As much as I love J-45s and J-50s on recordings, everything new one I've tried sounded compressed and muffled. At that price point, it's a hard, hard pass. Eastman sound nothing like Gibson slope shoulders. They are lusher, way more tonally balanced, and have much greater string separation and sustain. More akin to Taylors than Gibson by a wide margin IMO. That said, I am not a fan of Taylors (used to own one).

I wanted to keep the price down, and didn't mind a plain top vs the E10SS's burst, so I tried an E6SS. Great, great guitar. I actually like the plain top more than the J-45/E10SS burst. Because they are more balanced, Eastmans might not have the strong tonal identity that Gibsons do, but they are great guitars AND a fantastic value. I ended up scoring a like-new E6SS for $800 with hardcase (not sure if they come with one?) and couldn't be happier. 

That said, note that I've upgraded the tuners. The factory Pings kept the tune, but were pretty tight. I'm also planning non replacing the pickguard with a Holter Batwing I have on the way, but that's a purely cosmetic choice.  

Hope that helps.

Cheers.

[AlanSam]

When the batwing arrives a pic of it on your guitar would be good if possible.

[Greg1075]

When the batwing arrives a pic of it on your guitar would be good if possible.

You got it.

[Grandpa Bucky]

I recently purchased a 2015 Gibson J45 Standard Slope Shoulder plus I own an Eastman E10D-TC. Both are mahogany back and sides. My son flew down this weekend so I changed the strings and we did a shootout between those two. Since the scale length and body shapes are different plus the Eastman has an Adi top versus the Sitka J-45, it is not a fair comparison. Nonetheless, here are our observations. The E10D-TC weighs a good 25% more than the Gibson, I don't know why. The Eastman sound was more compressed and a bit better balanced because it does not have the booming bass. The J-45 has greater note separation plus that booming bass. If you play the J-45 really hard (like my son does) it will start to flub out. You can play that Eastman as hard as you want and it stays clear as a bell. I've recorded both guitars and the microphone likes the Gibson more. The Eastman has flame mahogany sides and back that is drop-dead gorgeous.

If there was someone around here with an Eastman E10SS, I would love to compare that to my J-45. So basically, this response probably didn't do you much good but at least it gave me an opportunity to brag about getting a Gibson J-45...