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OK, no pics of the AR580 until the end of he month.
How bout a pic of the ocean hole at Oyster Bay.
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Hello All, I just bought an AR580CE HB yesterday and I have to agree it is a great guitar. As soon as I saw it I had to have it. The spruce top and flamed maple back and sides are stunning, but I have never seen anything like the maple binding. It sounds wonderful, plugged in or not and plays beautifully. Mine has the SD Jazz pick up and I have restrung it with Thomastik flats. I also have a T59/v Amber, which I like more every time I play it, in fact just looking at it makes me feel better. It has the SD Antiquity pickups and you can get just about any sound you like from it. Anyway like all the people in here, well most, I am blown away by Eastman guitars, especially the two I have.
Pura Vida likes this post
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Welcome, Luke! Those are two great guitars. I really love the looks of the AR580CE-HB. We'd love to see some photos of your Eastman guitars and hope you'll enjoy our forum. Lots of friendly and knowledgable people in this corner of the internet.
"It's only castles burning." -- Neil Young
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Thanks Pura Vida, yes it seems photos are the order of the day!! Funnily enough, it is hard to take good photos of these guitars, the quality of the finish never seems to translate for some reason. Nevertheless I will see what I can some up with.
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Understood. I have a guitar with a really unique Rosewood back... very dark and small grain. I can't seem to get good photos of it either.
"It's only castles burning." -- Neil Young
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Welcome, Luke! Congrats on the AR580CE HB and look forward to seeing some of the flamed maple photos
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LukeW, welcome to EGF. Eastman is a world leader in archtop guitars, same with violins, etc... not a coincidence.
Congratulations on the AR580, my son has an AR880 and I have an El Rey 4.
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Thank you, yes there is plenty of flamed maple, no worries there! The AR880 is a nice guitar too. I have not had the pleasure of playing an El Rey 4 but they look great. I am in Australia and there is a shortage of Eastman guitars here. Both of mine were the last ones and the dealers are all waiting for stock. It looks like they are all going to the USA. The big worry now is that they automate some of their processes to keep up with demand and put the prices up. As it is you get a lot of guitar for the money.
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I think some automation is inevitable. I read that they use saws to rough cut the body shapes, but then still carved down by hand. And two years ago, an Eastman rep told me that they got their first CNC machine to make the Eastman headstock logos b/c they were previously hand-carved!
That being said, I don't foresee drastic changes to their production processes. Constrained supply can lead to increased demand, and any changes that would result in lower quality would harm their brand. They have a niche that's working, and I think they're too smart to sell out in that way.
"It's only castles burning." -- Neil Young
