Eastman Rosewood ?????

[Silly Moustache]

I have two Eastman flattops with rosewood back and sides and both are delightfully figured.

A thread about rosewood on the AGF made me think about what rosewood is used by Eastman. their website just say "rosewood" ...bit vague n'est ce pas?

Can anybody advise?

[paulhouston]

East Indian on my E40D

[Pura Vida]

A while back, I was asking them about their Rosewood b/c my E20OM-SB looks an awful lot like Madi Rosewood (one of the reasons I chose to buy that guitar).  At the time, they told me all of their production Rosewood is EIR, which makes sense b/c it's the most common and affordable.  I'm certain that hasn't changed for Eastman.

When I pressed them on my particular guitar and showed them videos of MR guitars they made for the Asian market, they admitted that they couldn't be sure my guitar wasn't made with Madi and sent as a one-off, which would make it a really nice, free upgrade.  I can say that this guitar looks and sounds way different than any EIR guitar I've owned, including an EIR E40OM (both made in 2017).

Can you share a link to the AGF thread?  Just curious.

[Silly Moustache]

Hi, the AGF thread was from someone saying that he liked the look of BRW (BRW-Wow!) and not about Eastman guitars.
I replied that I wouldn't have a guitar with CITES listed BRW if I had the choice, nor would I have Madrose and stated my reasoning. 
It just started a train of thought in my fevered brain.
Possibly because I watched a video somewhere of Richard Hoover saying that he searches world wide for good tonewood logs whereas "some builders buy whole forests". It was a throwaway line and he did not elaborate.

So, because the rosewood on my two Eastmans are prettier that that on my Collings are less visually attractive -I added 2 plus 2 and made 74.345 recurring.

I've been trying to find that Richard Hoover video - I failed.

[jphenderson91]

A while back, I was asking them about their Rosewood b/c my E20OM-SB looks an awful lot like Madi Rosewood (one of the reasons I chose to buy that guitar).  At the time, they told me all of their production Rosewood is EIR, which makes sense b/c it's the most common and affordable.  I'm certain that hasn't changed for Eastman.

When I pressed them on my particular guitar and showed them videos of MR guitars they made for the Asian market, they admitted that they couldn't be sure my guitar wasn't made with Madi and sent as a one-off, which would make it a really nice, free upgrade.  I can say that this guitar looks and sounds way different than any EIR guitar I've owned, including an EIR E40OM (both made in 2017).

Can you share a link to the AGF thread?  Just curious.

Pura Vida, can you share some pictures of the guitar in question alongside some of Eastman's other EIR? I wouldn't call myself a wood expert but I have had a fairly large number of rosewood dreads (Eastman and Martin) and I am generally pretty good at spotting EIR, Braz, and Madi. 

I wouldn't be surprised if you E40 came with Madi, even if Eastman couldn't verify it.

[Pura Vida]

Here is a side-by-side photo I took in 2017, when I purchased both guitars about 1-2 months apart.  The E20OM-SB (left) is the one in question... the E40OM (right) is definitely EIR.  I'd have to search for the YT videos of the Eastman MR guitars, but they were uploaded about 3yrs ago.  They had more figuring, but I've seen other Madi that look similar to my guitar.

[jphenderson91]

Here is a side-by-side photo I took in 2017, when I purchased both guitars about 1-2 months apart.  The E20OM-SB (left) is the one in question... the E40OM (right) is definitely EIR.  I'd have to search for the YT videos of the Eastman MR guitars, but they were uploaded about 3yrs ago.  They had more figuring, but I've seen other Madi that look similar to my guitar.

Pura Vida, the back of that left e40 is very very interesting. I have spent about 45 minutes looking at it and comparing it to rosewoods online. I don't think it's Madi Rosewood because it appears to be way too dark (unless Eastman went with a super dark stain). It honestly doesn't look like anything else in the rosewood family that I am aware of. Perhaps Ziricote? I actually had some really dark EIR on my E8D-TC that had some dark and red spots like yours. That's the closest thing I have seen. I would really like to consult a wood expert on this one as I am stumped. I do know EIR can have a pretty wide aesthetic range, but this one looks quite a bit different than almost any that I have seen. I wonder if it could be a cross between two rosewood species? Either way it looks super cool and pretty rare.

[Pura Vida]

Thanks for looking into it.  It definitely seems like a dark stain on the wood.  Maybe I'll take some newer photos this weekend -- closer views with better lighting.

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In the meantime, this is a photo from LA Guitar Sales, when they had the guitar listed for sale.  It's been lightened, but it's probably one of the better photos, which tends to get a lot of glare and reflections, when I take them.

[jphenderson91]

Thanks for looking into it.  It definitely seems like a dark stain on the wood.  Maybe I'll take some newer photos this weekend -- closer views with better lighting.

---

In the meantime, this is a photo from LA Guitar Sales, when they had the guitar listed for sale.  It's been lightened, but it's probably one of the better photos, which tends to get a lot of glare and reflections, when I take them.

Honestly it looks the most like a lot of the Brazilian Rosewood I have seen. I would be super surprised if that was actually it given the cities restrictions. It might still be a just really unique set of EIR or it could be a different rosewood species we are not super familiar with. I am going to see my old E8D-TC tonight so I might get some pictures of it's back and post them here.

[Pura Vida]

Yeah, Eastman couldn't say conclusively either, but admitted that their master luthier was experimenting with different woods and that most of them ended up in the Asian market.  Here is one of the videos I showed to them in 2019.  I wish they had shown the back, but the color on the side is nearly identical.