Is Recording King The "New" Eastman?

[Rens]

Looking at the current prices of new Eastman models, I'm going to be done with the brand soon. They're getting closer to the other overpriced brands, and there's no reason for that since they're made in China. Meaning: good old-fashioned GREED. Prices going up a bit is to be expected, but many of their models have gone up several hundreds over the last few years.

Oh well.

[campacj]

Looking at the current prices of new Eastman models, I'm going to be done with the brand soon. They're getting closer to the other overpriced brands, and there's no reason for that since they're made in China. Meaning: good old-fashioned GREED. Prices going up a bit is to be expected, but many of their models have gone up several hundreds over the last few years.

Oh well.

I am very grateful to Eastman for forcing Martin, Taylor, and some other makers to "wake up and smell the coffee" over the last 15 years or so. The market sure looks different today!
However, Eastman seems to be making their own foray into over-pricing lately. That's why I look to Recording King's Tonewood Reserve (RD-328) and Tonewood Reserve Elite (RD-342) series guitars. In my experience they are both excellent!

[Meathead]

Eastman's have gotten more expensive, but that has come with their success.  They are still reasonably priced versus similar Taylor and Martin models, in my opinion, but yes, they are no longer the unreal deal that they were when I first discovered 10+ years ago.  Eastman has also increased their quality over the years along with the increases in price. 

That said - regarding recording king, I've only had a chance to play one of their solid wood OM's that was a used model at guitar center and was very impressed with it.  Still prefer the aesthetics of an Eastman, but RK's seem to be a good value if you can find the right one.

[AlanSam]

The price increase in real terms (more than just inflation) of the top of the range Eastman's is quite clear. But as Tim says, they are still competitively priced vis-a-vis Martins and other perhaps more iconic guitar makes. Also, as witnessed by many EGF posts, the quality of the lower priced Eastmans is exceptional. Never played a RK but I would like to get me hands on a couple to try. I think maybe RK could be viewed as the new Blueridge?

[sleigh]

Price is why I generally buy used. You have to be careful, especially when buying off the internet since you can't actually hold, play, and examine the instrument before buying: you have to ask the right questions of the seller,  you have to examine the pics carefully, you may have to ask for more pictures with areas of concern, you might ask for a sound sample if there isn't one, and most importantly, you must know the return policy if the instrument isn't what was pictured/described when you receive it.

Of the three Eastmans I still own, all were bought used (though in the past, I've bought two new ones from the Chapmans' Acoustic Shoppe, whom I highly recommend if you're going to buy new...) I've bought several guitars used and -- knock on wood -- haven't yet been burnt... except by careless delivery people, but that can happen even when buying new.

[sagebrush tom]

Are Recording King the new Eastman? No. Recording King has been around longer than Eastman in different forms but for coming close to Eastman quality not so much. I owned a Recording King parlor a few years back model RP1-326 which was a well made parlor designed by Eric Schoenberg and maybe I should have kept it but helped me finance my first Martin 15 series a 000-15m.

[AlanSam]

Recording King (RK) was the house brand of the Montgomery Ward mail catalogue business through the 1930s until 1939. M Ward's Gibson built RK guitars were cheap and with a few exceptions the quality was mostly poor, and not examples of the pre-war Golden Era of guitar building. Few if any had neck rods/bars. Interestingly Regal (Regal Musical Instrument Company) produced a few excellent quality jumbo RKs for M Ward, designed to compete with high quality Gibsons and Martins, despite Regal being more associated with the low quality instruments they produced in vast numbers. 
Almost 70 years later in 2007, the RK name was revived by The Music Link Corporation. Some effort was taken to develop designs reflecting the original vintage models. Designed in the USA by Greg Rich (ex Gibson custom shop), they are manufactured in China. Also, as Tom says above, Eric Schoenberg designed a small bodied RK guitar for Music Link.

[AlanSam]

Nobodeuno - thanks for the info on RK and Cort - interesting stuff! And yes, Eastman is a one-off, sometimes infuriating but mostly admirable.

[Rens]

Recording King (RK) was the house brand of the Montgomery Ward mail catalogue business through the 1930s until 1939. M Ward's Gibson built RK guitars were cheap and with a few exceptions the quality was mostly poor, and not examples of the pre-war Golden Era of guitar building. Few if any had neck rods/bars. Interestingly Regal (Regal Musical Instrument Company) produced a few excellent quality jumbo RKs for M Ward, designed to compete with high quality Gibsons and Martins, despite Regal being more associated with the low quality instruments they produced in vast numbers. 
Almost 70 years later in 2007, the RK name was revived by The Music Link Corporation. Some effort was taken to develop designs reflecting the original vintage models. Designed in the USA by Greg Rich (ex Gibson custom shop), they are manufactured in China. Also, as Tom says above, Eric Schoenberg designed a small bodied RK guitar for Music Link.

Regal still survives as a brand, and I have a resonator guitar by them that's actually quite lovely. Wouldn't shy away from getting another one.

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Recording King (RK) was the house brand of the Montgomery Ward mail catalogue business through the 1930s until 1939. M Ward's Gibson built RK guitars were cheap and with a few exceptions the quality was mostly poor, and not examples of the pre-war Golden Era of guitar building. Few if any had neck rods/bars. Interestingly Regal (Regal Musical Instrument Company) produced a few excellent quality jumbo RKs for M Ward, designed to compete with high quality Gibsons and Martins, despite Regal being more associated with the low quality instruments they produced in vast numbers. 
Almost 70 years later in 2007, the RK name was revived by The Music Link Corporation. Some effort was taken to develop designs reflecting the original vintage models. Designed in the USA by Greg Rich (ex Gibson custom shop), they are manufactured in China. Also, as Tom says above, Eric Schoenberg designed a small bodied RK guitar for Music Link.

Regal still survives as a brand, and I own a resonator by them! It's quite nice, and I wouldn't hesitate getting another one.

(Had to repost this, since my initial reply seems to have not made it. Sorry if it eventually pops up.)

[AlanSam]

Don't worry about it!