E40OM vs E20OM-TC

[TomC]

Tom, how sweet it is, congratulations on a beautiful, hand made, boutique guitar.  Your pictures look outstanding.  Yes, Eastman does the detail work as good as it gets.  I do setups on any guitar I buy, nothing unusual in dialing in to what you prefer.

The first thing I did when I got my E20OM-TC last Nov was order a full sized '000-18 size/model' pickguard from Guitar Gallery, fit perfect.  I didn't want to scratch the spruce with my pinky doing the feel/guide thing.  There are other places to buy, but I have good things to say as a ref.
https://www.guitargal.com/collections/pi...ick-guards

I ordered the 'dark' one they had in stock at that time, have to check what they have in currently:

Bert
I traced the pickguard on my 000-18 and the edges intrude on the MOP inlays. I had read either here or on AGF that Tayler Mullins of Holter Pickguards makes some really good custom pickguards. He has some great looking material from which to choose. Below is a before and after of the old vs new larger guard. 
Tom

[Pura Vida]

Awesome, Tom!  It looks great, and I really like the larger pickguard.  My E40OM is a little over a year old, and it keeps getting better.  The volume and tone are outstanding... just as loud as my dreads, but with less boomy low end, and super comfortable to play.

[Bert]

Outstanding Tom, yes Taylor Mullins does a great job.  He made a pickguard for my former D18.

Tracing the 000-18 was a great idea.  bert

[DukeS]

That looks great. Taylor Mullins. A big difference, when I get the e40om, I think I will do the same.
Duke

[backdoc]

No harm in giving him a call.  I've purchased five guitars from Ted, and never any issues --- either with the guitars or the buying experience.  Some were easy decisions, but a few took more time, which Ted was always willing to extend to me.  Others will echo this feedback, so you can buy with confidence.

Taking a closer look at his three guitars, all of them have the pickguard already attached, which indicate they're more recent stock (pickguards were not pre-attached prior to 2018).  All three guitars have a distinctive look: the burst (obviously), and the two natural tops --- the second (#55923) might have just a little more red and wider grain, and the back is darker than the first one (#50100), which is blonde and nice, straight grain on the back.  But those aesthetics may not be an indicator to the sound, which is most important.  

Actually, I will advise differently. I did NOT have a good experience. I was sold a guitar (Martin 000-18) that he said he checked over thoroughly and that was not the case. It arrived needing a neck reset right out of the box and Ted would do nothing about it. I should get an email any day from Martin stating that they have finished fixing it and it is on the way back to me. Martin is fixing it for free, but it cost me $147 to ship it to them and I am without my guitar for many months now. I think I have bought my last guitar as all my needs are more than covered, but I will NEVER buy an acoustic that I can't play first. I also bought an Eastman from an AGF forum member that looked good, but has a fret buzz issue as well that I can't seem to sort out, so it is going to have to be professionally set up to be playable. Try before you buy. It is worth the difference in price. JMHO

[TomC]

backdoc - sorry to hear about your experiences. As I go further down this rabbit hole of learning and obtaining acoustic guitars, the one repeated recommendation I have read "is try before you buy". I broke two guidelines/rules when I purchased my E40OM from Ted. #1 - I did not try it. But LAG has a return policy so I knew the worst case scenario would be that I am out the shipping costs to and from. In this case the E40 was a guitar I really wanted and I could not get one locally. LAG had three in stock and Ted was very helpful in recommending one of the three. The guitar will be everything I hope it can be as it (and my skills) mature. #2 - I bought new rather than used. There is a lot of high quality used guitars available from multiple sources - Reverb, AGF, CL etc. You can save some good money and acquire a great used instrument if you are willing to look around. I bought my used 2016 000-18 unplayed via a seller on Reverb. BUT the price was right and they had a good return policy (10 days). Again I knew going in that I could potentially be on the hook for the shipping costs. I bought my E8D and a Cort P1200 locally which made the decision easier. I was fairly confident I knew what I was getting. Although the Cort was in dire need of a professional set-up.
The used guitar market in MN is slim. If there is a specific guitar that I want to add to my collection, I need to risk not playing it before I buy it and understand that I am on the hook for shipping costs. I research the seller as much as possible. EVERY review of LAG was positive. If I had read about your experience prior to buying the E40 from Ted, it may have given me pause and caused me to wait and purchase locally.  I would like to add a spruce/mahogany dreadnaught to my collection. I am looking for some version of a D-18, E6/10D(TC maybe  ), E10SSv or a Larrivee SD-40M. There are many others that I would love to have, but they are not even close to what I can afford to pay. The ones that I have found so far that are in my budget are at places that have a no return sold as is, where is policy. I don't even consider them. 
Maybe I just got lucky. I have read a lot of horror stories of buying unplayed and the guitar wasn't as advertised - new and used. My experience with Ted and Helene at LAG was different than yours. I would not hesitate to purchase from them again if they had the guitar I really wanted. All of this is just my opinion from my experiences.
TomC

[Bert]

backdoc, problems are a bummer.  The pitfalls of buying guitars these days are many.  I agree, play before you buy is always the best.  My only experience with LAGuitars was good, my E20OM-TC is a real winner.  The nature of the online retail business model is very different than the full service local guitar dealer.

I bought my first real guitar in 1976, a Martin D12-18.  Thirty years later CFM paid more for the neck reset than the guitar cost when new, made me a loyal Martin customer for many years.  The new no-reset policy hit in the last few years, you were fortunate to even get a warranty reset.  I've had experience with three new Martins that have needed a neck reset soon after leaving the shipping box, not the normal 20-30yrs.  I won't try to hang out the laundry but, just say, their PLEK system for finish setup is a short cut for lower cost and ship more numbers.

Maybe... CFM is going to have to make the move to bolt-on necks, old timers will kick and scream like it's the end of the world.  Try to tell that to happy Collings, Bourgeois and Taylor owners.

bert

[Northman]

yup nice little geetar their OM's and 'fancy'.
Some NEED pictures - 'or it hasn't happened'.
I'm in the I need to hear it camp - in this respect
it's a sufficiently different model that there may be 
some design alterations 'under the hood'.
That's where it all happens - for me - where the guitar gets it's 'soul'.
Cosmetics and visual aesthetics are part of the whole and an important one too some
'the' look then ya got 'the feel'  -last but NOT least - does it have the Buddha in it and this
can only be ascertained by playing / listening to it.
happy pickin

[billymo]

Going to play an E40OM at SoundPure Music next week, but they don't have an E20OM-TC for me to compare. If an E20OM-TC would sound anything like this demo on youtube, wow, my decision would be easy. But youtube videos can be recorded with expensive mics and then enhanced with DAW software, so it difficult to trust what's on youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VkiW_hap0M

[L-Man]

Three Orchestra Model Eastman Guitars (E8OM, E20OM-TC, E40OM)

Read this knowing that my personal bias is toward a steel string that approaches the tonality of a classical guitar.

I have had a chance to compare at my leisure and over a period of time an E8OM (Sitka), E20OM-TC (thermo-cured Adirondack) and E40OM (AAA grade Adi). I own the 8 and 20, and have free access to the 40.

I will say that personal taste/experience would largely be the final factor in deciding between these three guitars, all of them are excellent. The 40 is a breathtaking gem of an instrument.

The E40OM is crystal-clear, open, responsive, has a lot of volume, and huge sound spectrum. Extremely impressive to play.
The E20OM-TC is a thicker sound, still rather "bright" as a result of the Adi top, even though it is torrefied. Broader tone and a bit less responsive than the E40OM. Also an outstanding guitar (I bought some months ago, lending it to a friend since I purchased a Martin HD-28).
The E8OM is somewhat smaller in sound, but still has very good projection for an OM model. The Sitka spruce top lends a warmth, sweetness and smoothness to the sound that is quite different in nature than the Adi spruce.

My own personal preference in tone strongly pulls me toward the E8OM, which I now own. To my ears, the Adi is just a bit brash, and though I expect it to play in after a few years, doubt that it would entirely lose its basic tonality. Though I initially loved the forward sound of my E20OM-TC, for the finger style that I play, the E8OM is more lyrical, its warmth and body are closer in sound to the human voice - more natural, more pleasant.

I eventually lost my initial enthusiasm for the Adi spruce, what I hear as an exaggerated treble chime in the sound. But I can understand another musician prizing the sound, especially when playing in a group where you want the instrument to stand out from the other instruments and voices. Whereas the Sitka is more natural, I can see that many might find it bland and uninteresting compared to the greater relief of the sound of Adirondack spruce. Adirondack spruce does make quite an impression if you have never heard it before.

My favorite guitar is my Martin HD-28, though it's not a typical finger style instrument. But it has the articulation and tonal colour I never would have expected from a dreadnought - I bought it on a whim, 2020 model from a music store, the sound was too good I couldn't leave it. The E08 tone is similar in nature to the Martin (on a smaller scale). Both are warm and clear, and my current favorite guitars.