SB59/v from 2017 sold as new?

[MattLovesEastman]

Hi everyone,

Just joined the forum and read through a few threads, and I am very happy I found this place! I discovered Eastman back in 2018 and bought an SB59, and it is one of the greatest guitars I have ever played.

Ever since then I was curious about the SB59/v and recently found one sold as Brand New on Reverb, and when I made an offer it was immediately accepted for a very decent price. The seller was a legit shop with good reviews, and the guitar arrived in its case with certificate. So far, so good.

One thing surprised me, though: When I checked the serial number yesterday, it indicates the guitar is from 2017! This would mean that either the dealer received it from Eastman only recently (kind of unlikely) or had it sitting in their shop for c. five years? Given that dealers usually try to ship their inventory rather quickly, and given that this is not a very odd or extremely expensive model, this option also sounds a bit odd.

Frets look new to me, but given that the guitar is aged it is hard to tell whether this is, in fact, a new instrument. Of course I can reach out to the dealer and ask, but that would immediately be suggesting that they would have knowingly sold a used guitar as new.

So I wanted to ask you guys: Have you ever bought a new guitar which had been in the shop for quite a long time, and how would you go about this? I really think it is a great guitar, and part of me just wants to ignore it and enjoy, but there is this other side of me who would love to know whether the dealer acted in good faith.

[sleigh]

Assuming you're in the States, you should have received a Certificate of Authenticity (CoA) in the case if that's a new guitar. The CoA would have a date on it, but that's the date that guitar when the guitar went through Eastman's USA Pomona, CA facility for inspection and set-up before delivery to the stores. The date on the CoA is NOT the date that the guitar was manufactured in the Eastman facility in Beijing, which could have been months earlier (though not five years earlier, AFAIK), given shipping and transportation delays.

There's a thread in the forum here about Eastman serial numbers (https://www.eastmanguitarfans.com/Thread...al+numbers). You could also contact Eastman directly and ask them when the guitar was manufactured. You can email them from the contact page on their website.

[MattLovesEastman]

Thanks for that, sleigh. I am based in Europe, so my certificate only has a sales date field - but most of the certificate has not been filled in properly anyway, so that one is blank. That's another thing. I did look up the serial number information on the Eastman website already, the link for that would be https://www.eastmanguitars.com/faq and I believe that has recently been updated, so it confirms my guitar to be from 2017.

I think I will reach out to Eastman just to be sure. They can tell me at least who they sold it to, and if that happens to be that dealer and in the years 2017 or 2018 then I guess it is legit. Otherwise it would start to have a funny aftertaste.

[Lukew]

I have several Eastman guitars, all new and none of the certificates I got were filled out completely.  In any case, the certificate is more a warranty card than anything else and has nothing to do with the date of manufacture.

As far as I know the serial number has no bearing on the date of manufacture either, but this might have changed with more recent models.  If you email Eastman with your serial number, they should tell you.  I doubt that it would be old stock, as the demand for the guitars is quite high everywhere.

Hope this helps.

[Pura Vida]

It seems the European HQ aren't as consistent with the COA dates as the Pomona HQ for the Americas.  Based on the demand for these guitars (as mentioned above), I can't imagine this guitar would sit anywhere for five years, so I'm really curious to hear how this one turns out.