(10-15-2021, 08:59 AM)dantheman1017 Wrote:
I'm going to give a slightly less laudatory opinion. I've owned and played a T386 for a number of years. What I like least about it is the flat, shallow D neck. I kept it because of the general very nice quality (I was coming from a Chinese Ibanez) seemed to outweigh that issue at the time, and I had already returned one to the store I bought it from in the US, where the neck was actually unplayable as it was thinner in the middle than it was near the headstock and the body. I understand building guitars entirely by hand is very noble and all, but machines, at the minimum, ensure consistency.
The main problem with buying an Eastman, at least here in Switzerland, is that there's very few stores that carry them. And the rare ones that have a few models tend to sell at inflated prices, comparable to the Made in Japan equivalents (Yamaha, Ibanez, Seventy-Seven etc.). Also, the frets on my T386 are not perfectly set. I don't think Japanese builds, for instance, suffer any fret issues. Say you need to bring it to a luthier to change the pickup and have the fretwork redone, it isn't such an affordable guitar anymore, IMO, even though the overall quality is there, no doubt.
Last year I ordered an ES-125 replica from Dupont guitars of France, for about $2,500, and the playability is flawless, with perfect neck and fretwork, just in a different class. Buy any of the higher Eastmans anywhere around Europe, and the price is nearly the same. That really gave me pause. The T386 has served me well, but when the time comes to replace it, supposing I still don't want to pay for a Gibson, I'll probably take all of that into account.
