NGD - First non-Guild in ages!

[guildman63]

While Guild remains my favorite, I was jonesin' for a fully carved archtop with a floating pickup, but never thought I could afford a good one. While this may not be an L5, for the price it is pretty darn good! The quality of production in terms of details is not up to Guild standards, for sure. There are spots here and there along the binding where some minor bleeding occured, but other than that the quality is excellent considering that it cost only slightly more than a late 70's X-175 is going for on Ebay.

Reviews have been excellent, and the specs are as follows:

Body Dimensions: 17? X 3 1/8?
Cutaway: Venetian
Top Wood: Solid Hand Carved Spruce
Back/Sides Wood: Hand Carved Maple
Body Binding: 7-ply ivoroid/black
Neck Woods: Maple
Fingerboard: Ebony
Nut Width: 1 3/4?
Scale Length: 25?
Frets: 22 Nickel – Silver
Pickguard: Ebony
Inlays: None
Pick-up: Single Floating Kent Armstrong (HJGS6-GD)
Controls: Volume & Tone, pickguard mounted
Bridge: Ebony compensated, 2 3/32? Spacing
Tailpiece: Gold & Ebony Trapeze-style
Tuners: Gotoh w/ ebony buttons
Strings: D’Addario EJ21 .012-.052 Roundwound
Available Finishes: Classic, Sunburst
Case: Hardshell Included

My only issue with its sound is that the B string is slightly louder than the rest, and dropping that pole all the way down gets it very close, but not completely balanced. Unplugged, that B string is louder, and this guitar has probably been played a fair amount in the shop, so I am hoping a new set of strings takes care of that. If anyone has any suggestions on what strings to use other than what is listed above please chime in. I am used to flat-wound Chromes on my archtops, but I'm not sure those would be ideal with this guitar.

Enjoy the pics!

http://s1112.photobucket.com/albums/k48 ... =slideshow

 

[evenkeel]

Congrats on the Eastman. I have an Eastman flat top, AC722. I cringe a bit saying this but it has become my favorite 6 string acoustic. The build quality on mine is nothing short of terrific. The equal of any of the production builders and damn near the boutique guys.

 

[southernGuild]

I hear great things about those Eastmans quite often. Must be a good reason why. Enjoy that baby. 8)

 

[RussB]

Beautiful guitar! 8)

Eastman makes a fine instrument for sure. I like GHS burnished nickel's on my electrics

 

[alpep]

the eastman guitars are a pretty good bang for the buck

 

[spiderman]

See my signature. The Eastman there is my first steel string guitar. Kind of unusual as it has 1/2 the back (bass side) mahogany, and the treble 1/2 EIR. It is a one-off, and was pretty reasonable in price. When my daughter visits that is the one she picks up, so it will probably go to her as I have promised her something besides the garage sale guitars she has now. Sound is pretty darn good, though does not match a good Guild or Martin dread. I'm more of a jumbo or 00 guy these days. Eastman makes fine guitars in general, I have played many and for the price (and sometimes beyond) they can't be beat. Give GADs a good run for the money. YMMV

Harmony H-173 bought in 1960 (retired), Alvarez AC60S 2008, Eastman AC320ce 2009 "Hybrid", Guild D25M 1974, Martin Grand J35E 2009, Martin D12-20 1970, Martin OM-21 2009, Martin 00-15M Custom (full body gloss, wide neck) 2011, Martin 00-15M Custom (12 fret, wide neck, solid peghead) 2012, Voyage-air VAOM-06 2010
"I'm glad there are a lot of guitar players pursuing technique as diligently as they possibly can, because it leaves this whole other area open to people like me."
Richard Thompson