I am going to post a few comments on the Eastman PCH1-D. I ordered the guitar through Alto Music on 09/28/2021 and finally received on 08/25/2022...almost 11 months to the day. I think the lead time was actually longer than 11 months though, because Alto had placed an order for PCH1-Ds (for stock) with Eastman before I ordered mine. Interestingly, the street price has increased from $279 to $349 during this period, and I was not asked to pay the higher price. I also received 15% in "Alto Bucks," store credit.
My other 2 Eastman guitars (solid wood) that I purchased previously had a red sticker on the shipping carton, stating the package should acclimate for 24 hours prior to opening. The PCH1-D did not have such a notice. I wonder that is because of the laminate construction, or possibly due to the fact that it was shipped and received in the summer season.
I bought this guitar for traveling by car, playing around with my grand kids (who can be a bit rough on an instrument), campfires, etc. The guitar arrived in excellent condition. The action was medium...0.100" on the low E and 0.070" on the high e (at the 12th fret), with 0.006" of relief, a good general setup. The appearance is really nice; the ovangkol fretboard and bridge give a different look than the ebony on my other Eastmans, and I kind of like it.
The Eastman website states the strings are D'Addario .012-.053 #EXP16 (coated). Looking at them along side the EJ16 strings (uncoated) on my other guitars, they look identical. Based on this, I question whether the strings on the PCH1-D are actually EXP16.
There have been statements made on here that the workmanship on the PCH series is inferior to the rest of the Eastman line. With that in mind, I looked the guitar over carefully. Everything looked perfect to my eye, except for one thing: The neck is maple and the fretboard is ovangkol. Where the two meet, they apparently mask the ovangkol when staining the maple neck. Some stain has seeped through to the side edge of the ovangkol fretboard, interrupting what should be a straight line. I will try to attach some pictures later. Not a big deal on such an inexpensive guitar, but it does support the statement that the workmanship may be of a lower standard.
The nut and saddle appear to be bone, as claimed, and the bridge pins are plastic.
I did order some bone bridge pins. This guitar does not come with a pickup. I upgraded my other Eastmans to the LR Baggs Anthem pickups. I am planning to install the LR Baggs Element pickup (removed from the AC422CE) in the PCH1-D; this will involved drilling some holes which I didn't have to do when upgrading my other guitars (ugh!). At that time I will lower the action.
So how does it sound? Well, if you just play it by itself, it sounds ok. But if you play it back to back with a solid wood guitar, you immediately recognize a huge difference. Comparatively, the sound is thin without much low end. I found myself changing my playing style a bit to hit the lower strings a little more and a little harder.
For my purposes, the PCH1-D is perfect. If however, I were a beginner looking for an upgrade from my first guitar, I would save up for an all wood Eastman guitar.
CJ
Edit: The SN is M2205188. The guitar was possibly manufactured in July. So, one might assume guitars are serialized consecutively and estimate that Eastman is on track to make over 10,000 acoustic guitars this year.
The intonation is spot on. I switched the bridge pins to bone, which seems to have helped the tone a bit. It is hard to say without a recording for an A-B comparison.
I attached pics showing the where the stain bled through the masking (or maybe it is brushed on?") onto the side edges of the Ovangkol fretboard.
My other 2 Eastman guitars (solid wood) that I purchased previously had a red sticker on the shipping carton, stating the package should acclimate for 24 hours prior to opening. The PCH1-D did not have such a notice. I wonder that is because of the laminate construction, or possibly due to the fact that it was shipped and received in the summer season.
I bought this guitar for traveling by car, playing around with my grand kids (who can be a bit rough on an instrument), campfires, etc. The guitar arrived in excellent condition. The action was medium...0.100" on the low E and 0.070" on the high e (at the 12th fret), with 0.006" of relief, a good general setup. The appearance is really nice; the ovangkol fretboard and bridge give a different look than the ebony on my other Eastmans, and I kind of like it.
The Eastman website states the strings are D'Addario .012-.053 #EXP16 (coated). Looking at them along side the EJ16 strings (uncoated) on my other guitars, they look identical. Based on this, I question whether the strings on the PCH1-D are actually EXP16.
There have been statements made on here that the workmanship on the PCH series is inferior to the rest of the Eastman line. With that in mind, I looked the guitar over carefully. Everything looked perfect to my eye, except for one thing: The neck is maple and the fretboard is ovangkol. Where the two meet, they apparently mask the ovangkol when staining the maple neck. Some stain has seeped through to the side edge of the ovangkol fretboard, interrupting what should be a straight line. I will try to attach some pictures later. Not a big deal on such an inexpensive guitar, but it does support the statement that the workmanship may be of a lower standard.
The nut and saddle appear to be bone, as claimed, and the bridge pins are plastic.
I did order some bone bridge pins. This guitar does not come with a pickup. I upgraded my other Eastmans to the LR Baggs Anthem pickups. I am planning to install the LR Baggs Element pickup (removed from the AC422CE) in the PCH1-D; this will involved drilling some holes which I didn't have to do when upgrading my other guitars (ugh!). At that time I will lower the action.
So how does it sound? Well, if you just play it by itself, it sounds ok. But if you play it back to back with a solid wood guitar, you immediately recognize a huge difference. Comparatively, the sound is thin without much low end. I found myself changing my playing style a bit to hit the lower strings a little more and a little harder.
For my purposes, the PCH1-D is perfect. If however, I were a beginner looking for an upgrade from my first guitar, I would save up for an all wood Eastman guitar.
CJ
Edit: The SN is M2205188. The guitar was possibly manufactured in July. So, one might assume guitars are serialized consecutively and estimate that Eastman is on track to make over 10,000 acoustic guitars this year.
The intonation is spot on. I switched the bridge pins to bone, which seems to have helped the tone a bit. It is hard to say without a recording for an A-B comparison.
I attached pics showing the where the stain bled through the masking (or maybe it is brushed on?") onto the side edges of the Ovangkol fretboard.
Attached Files
