Eastman’s weakness?

[Tim Farney]

I have now owned 5 Eastmans and I still have 4, counting the mando. They are beautifully crafted instruments, but the one consistent weakness, especially among the fancier instruments, is the occasional presence of wobbly purfling, or binding that is not perfectly aligned. There are some (very small) examples of this in my MX, my 805 mando, my OM, and my previous Pisano.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not really complaining, I think this is the result of hand work. CNC wouldn’t do it, but then again, most top quality luthiers wouldn’t let it out of the shop, either. They’d redo it until it was perfect. I personally think it’s a very small price to pay for otherwise boutique quality instruments at factory production prices. Anybody else noticed this?

[gnappi]

I agree, nit complaints don't detract from the real purpose of the git. So many players obsess about such minor things, and they get CRUSHED when they have a boo-boo they create with a bump. Jeez, Gibson gits at 4x the price nowadays are EXPECTED to have nits :-)

Anyway, I have only have two Eastmans, the T486 and 165MX. Neither have issues like you describe. The 165MX has the fragile finish peeling issue, I'll let the next owner freak out about it... after I'm gone that is.

[Pura Vida]

Perhaps I've been lucky, but I haven't experienced or noticed those issues.  In particular, the new guitars that I purchased via LA Guitar Sales have been exceptional, although the used ones have been fine too.  Eastman seems to have improved their QC in recent years, so some of the past issues are old news.

[Bert]

I've never seen that in my Eastmans over the years, my 2018 ER4's bindings are the grail of boutique imo.  Temp changes can play into shrink/warp with bindings, curved surfaces are the common issue.

CF Martin & Co ships 120k guitars/year, cnc is in heavy use:

https://umgf.com/loose-binding-at-waist-...92626.html

[Tim Farney]

Perhaps I've been lucky, but I haven't experienced or noticed those issues.  In particular, the new guitars that I purchased via LA Guitar Sales have been exceptional, although the used ones have been fine too.  Eastman seems to have improved their QC in recent years, so some of the past issues are old news.

Just to put this in oerspective, this is the worst example I have:



See the bit of non-linearity in the maple running parallel to the neck heel? As I look closer, the other examples, bits of waviness in purfling, appear to be an illusion created by the grain in the wood. And this one real example? It’s on what may be the best electric guitar I’ve ever owned. So never mind.

[ugarte]

I think they have had a few hardware problems in the past but most of it has been sorted out. The small woodwork imperfections and the thin nitro finish is almost a bonus, not many instruments arrive with character built-in anymore.

The one thing I might count as a weakness is that my one Eastman needs to be tuned every time I play it, not a lot but more than any of my other guitars. 

. . .resale value might be a weakness?

[Bert]

ugarte, welcome to the forum, still trying to figure out your cool avatar.  I used to work in wireframe CAD before solid modeling became the standard.

Which Eastman do you own, we've got a lot of everything around here.  Jump right in, we're a friendly bunch.  bert

[Pura Vida]

Welcome, ugarte!    Great point about the built-in character.  That applies to tone, as much as aesthetics.

As for resale, I think that applies to most brands in today's market.  A few bigger companies (Martin, Taylor, Gibson) can turn a resale quickly and for top dollar, so brand recognition plays a part.  But it does seem like Eastman's resale has improved, as their reputation continues to expand (plus, the fact that there isn't a gluttony of inventory out there).

[ugarte]

ugarte, welcome to the forum, still trying to figure out your cool avatar.  I used to work in wireframe CAD before solid modeling became the standard.

Which Eastman do you own, we've got a lot of everything around here.  Jump right in, we're a friendly bunch.  bert

My avatar is an astrolabe (which is the name of my company, I'm in geomatics-GIS). My Eastman is an ar403 which I recommend to anyone looking for a bang-for-buck electric archtop, there are still some NOS out there. I'm on the hunt for an ar680 . . .some day.

[aant]

I too have bindings not perfectly aligned, on both my 372 and AC522. That doesn’t prevent me from enjoying the instruments as tone and playability are above expectations.