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Hey everyone,
Just discovered Eastman and I’m sold on a T486. I have a question about the finishes though. Appreciate any insights. Dealers tend to use nitrocellulose and varnish terms to describe the finish. The T486 comes in gold burst, classic and red. It’s the classic finish I like, but it’s that a varnish or nitro? The Eastman website describes the finish as “gloss finish” which sounds like neither??
Many thanks in advance!
Glory and
AlanSam like this post
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I was reading that it is a special formulation that Eastman uses. They tall it Trutone finish and is a very thin polyurethane finish with many of the properties of Nitro.
There is an article in this month's Guitar World.
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As mentioned, Eastman just moved to Truetone, which is a water based Poly finish that is used by Bourgeois guitars. They quietly began rolling this into guitar production in 2021, and anything previous to then was made with Nitro finish. Eastman still uses their Varnish finish on the models that end with "/v."
"It's only castles burning." -- Neil Young
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Hey people, I’m new to Eastman guitars & purchased the T64-v-tt in Antique Red & the finish is not great. I’m not happy at all & really should have sent the guitar back. The reason I didn’t is because it is fantastic to play & ticks all the boxes with Ebony board, quality pups & hardware etc. Also, I’m not frightened to have a go at getting the finish how I want it using Scotchbrite pad’s & waxes.
I would advise finding an Eastman dealer & seeing them in the flesh.
To put mine into context I should have had the Antique Violin finish which I believe they are renowned for. The Antique Red looks like they have just taken the violin finish & sprayed over it & that’s it, signs of player wear underneath the finish but seems thick & over shiny. On mine there is a bad tooling mark at the bottom of the lower F hole which I have had to work on as well.
There is more but I’m fussy. So yeah very fine instruments to play but I would advice the antique natural finish.
If no dealers local then check the online dealers returns policy.
I have had & played Gretsch Korean Electromatic’s which are superb instruments & well finished. These tend to be cheaper also. There is a lot of very good competition out there so come on Eastman take note ?Hope this is constructive in your choice ? ATB Joey ??
