Furch/Eastman

Dave_Mc

menamestom said:

Booked in to Richards tomorrow.   A 4 hour round trip, but an hour playing is more valuable that weeks of viewing online.

Excellent As @Airmiles said, check out some Dowinas too when you're there. My suspicion (based on the, er, one I've tried, and also fairly hazy memory of Furches I've tried) is that they're a bit more modern in sound, but I could be wrong.

Gassage

If you are seeing Richard Guitars, also worth considering the brilliant Dowina range.

Very tone focused over garish decoration

menamestom

Dave_Mc said:

menamestom said:

Booked in to Richards tomorrow.   A 4 hour round trip, but an hour playing is more valuable that weeks of viewing online.

Excellent As @Airmiles said, check out some Dowinas too when you're there. My suspicion (based on the, er, one I've tried, and also fairly hazy memory of Furches I've tried) is that they're a bit more modern in sound, but I could be wrong.

Gassage said:

If you are seeing Richard Guitars, also worth considering the brilliant Dowina range.

Very tone focused over garish decoration

Good call.  They are definitely on my list.  I'm probably not going for Cedar, but a bit over budget some of their Spruce / Rosewood's look really nice.    This one looks understated and traditional without being a Martin OM copy.
I guess it all depends what is actually in stock. the website may not be up-to-date.

Dowina Rosewood OMG. OM Body Acoustic Guitar (rguitars.co.uk)

sev112

Have a great trip.  Make sure you don’t wear a chunky jumper, so that you can feel (and don’t dampen) the vibrations of the back.  I can really notice it on colder days here when I’ve got a bg M&S jumper on, and the good guitars deserve to move and sound fabulous 

good luck 

Shadow

I had a good experience when I went to Richard's a couple of years ago (apart from it being in the middle of that horrific heatwave). When I got there the guitars I'd expressed an interest in were all on stands and I was pretty much left to myself for a couple of hours, so there was no issue with trying anything I fancied. 

If they have any Audens in the Neo range with the 45mm nut I'd recommend trying them. I ended up with a Furch Blue OM-CM (cedar/mahogany) which has a lovely warm tone which I much preferred to the Eastman E8OM-TC I had at the time, I found the trebles a bit metallic. It was a lovely instrument otherwise though, very nicely finished and with a neck that suited me. Good luck!

menamestom

Shadow said:

I had a good experience when I went to Richard's a couple of years ago (apart from it being in the middle of that horrific heatwave). When I got there the guitars I'd expressed an interest in were all on stands and I was pretty much left to myself for a couple of hours, so there was no issue with trying anything I fancied. 

If they have any Audens in the Neo range with the 45mm nut I'd recommend trying them. I ended up with a Furch Blue OM-CM (cedar/mahogany) which has a lovely warm tone which I much preferred to the Eastman E8OM-TC I had at the time, I found the trebles a bit metallic. It was a lovely instrument otherwise though, very nicely finished and with a neck that suited me. Good luck!

Interesting.  Did you find changing scale length to the Furch changed anything?

The reason I ask, I have played a drednought for 25 years, always thought it was the perfect long scale guitar, until I measured it the other day and realised it's 24 3/4 or something like that!

Strange to be fair, I notice on electrics straight away and favour Fender scale lengths.

menamestom

sev112 said:

Have a great trip.  Make sure you don’t wear a chunky jumper, so that you can feel (and don’t dampen) the vibrations of the back.  I can really notice it on colder days here when I’ve got a bg M&S jumper on, and the good guitars deserve to move and sound fabulous 

good luck 

Good tip, I've never thougth about that.

builttospill

@menamestom did you ever consider the Guild M-20? I’m thinking of trying the 2x available in No Toms or Wunjos on Denmark St, they have been on my radar since I purchased my Hummingbird last year, also looking for a smaller acoustic to complement my dreadnought 

menamestom

builttospill said:

@menamestom did you ever consider the Guild M-20? I’m thinking of trying the 2x available in No Toms or Wunjos on Denmark St, they have been on my radar since I purchased my Hummingbird last year, also looking for a smaller acoustic to complement my dreadnought 

Yeah.  Probably just drifting beyond my extended budget range, but they have been in my searches.

Even more expensive but love the look of this:-

https://www.peachguitars.com/guild-usa-m-25e-concert-electro-california-burst.htm

builttospill

menamestom said:

builttospill said:

@menamestom did you ever consider the Guild M-20? I’m thinking of trying the 2x available in No Toms or Wunjos on Denmark St, they have been on my radar since I purchased my Hummingbird last year, also looking for a smaller acoustic to complement my dreadnought 

Yeah.  Probably just drifting beyond my extended budget range, but they have been in my searches.

Even more expensive but love the look of this:-

https://www.peachguitars.com/guild-usa-m-25e-concert-electro-california-burst.htm

Yep love those M-25e’s.., the sunburst looks gorgeous..  just not much written about these. I’m sure I’ve seen these for £1600

menamestom

Tried a selection of Furch, Eastman, Auden and Dowina.  All really nice guitars and Jon at Richards was super helpful.

Dowina look and feel amazing but were my least favourite tonally, probably because they are furthest away from vintage tonality. They probably favour a light touch, they have lots of sustain, but don’t take well to a heavy thumping thumb.

Auden, I tried the Emily Rose in Cedar and Mahogany.  These were both really good and sounded huge for their size.  There’s some thought gone into the designs here, and they are very focused.  Ultimately I like a bit more top end, probably from being used to and expecting Spruce.  That said the Mahogany one I would love as an ‘alternative’ guitar.
Had I have tried one in spruce the search may have ended there.

Furch, really well build and sound great, one foot in the modern camp but pretty versatile.  One was Cedar, and much as I like it occasionally it’s just not the feel I’m after.  That said, the blue cedar was brighter and had better headroom than many cedar guitars - I would have been happy with it.   I also tried a Furch Vintage 2 OM and that was amazing.  The best guitar I picked up.  Seemed hifi, chiming, full range and great sustain.  That guitar would cover anything.  However, well over budget and not quite the vintage tone I was after for this particular purchase.  I think vintage here refers to the styling rather than tone.  That said, I can see this being a future purchase, it won’t leave my mind in a hurry.  Had the neck been a bit chunkier I doubt I could have left it.

Next up Eastman.  They seemed more in the Martin / Vintage camp than the others.  The parlour was good, but then tried a few OM/000’s (E6, E20) and a few 00’s (E10 and E20).

I gravitated to both E20’s which sounded great.  I think Rosewood and Adirondack must suit what I was after.   

The OM was a few hundred more, being sunburst, so went for the 00.  The spacing and neck feel great.  Also, it sounds like a much bigger guitar than its size suggests.  Actually these 2 guitars sounded similar, the OM a but more open and the 00 a bit more focused.

I’ll revisit the OM plan in the future, but for this purchase was the E20 00 TC.  Fairly Ironic because I started a thread about a wide nut 00 being what I wanted, but veered into OM/000 options.  Turns out what I wanted, was what I wanted!

https://rguitars.co.uk/products/eastman-e20-oom-inc-100-professional-setup-added-value

Set up is getting done next week then they will post out.

menamestom

https://imgur.com/a/86yDPLn

sev112

Lovely piece of wood, and sounds a good experience. I gave you a mental wave as I drove past on the M40 a couple of times today

looks great piece of wood, hope you love it and it makes you play more and better

Gandalph

menamestom said:

Tried a selection of Furch, Eastman, Auden and Dowina.  All really nice guitars and Jon at Richards was super helpful.

Dowina look and feel amazing but were my least favourite tonally, probably because they are furthest away from vintage tonality. They probably favour a light touch, they have lots of sustain, but don’t take well to a heavy thumping thumb.

Auden, I tried the Emily Rose in Cedar and Mahogany.  These were both really good and sounded huge for their size.  There’s some thought gone into the designs here, and they are very focused.  Ultimately I like a bit more top end, probably from being used to and expecting Spruce.  That said the Mahogany one I would love as an ‘alternative’ guitar.
Had I have tried one in spruce the search may have ended there.

Furch, really well build and sound great, one foot in the modern camp but pretty versatile.  One was Cedar, and much as I like it occasionally it’s just not the feel I’m after.  That said, the blue cedar was brighter and had better headroom than many cedar guitars - I would have been happy with it.   I also tried a Furch Vintage 2 OM and that was amazing.  The best guitar I picked up.  Seemed hifi, chiming, full range and great sustain.  That guitar would cover anything.  However, well over budget and not quite the vintage tone I was after for this particular purchase.  I think vintage here refers to the styling rather than tone.  That said, I can see this being a future purchase, it won’t leave my mind in a hurry.  Had the neck been a bit chunkier I doubt I could have left it.

Next up Eastman.  They seemed more in the Martin / Vintage camp than the others.  The parlour was good, but then tried a few OM/000’s (E6, E20) and a few 00’s (E10 and E20).

I gravitated to both E20’s which sounded great.  I think Rosewood and Adirondack must suit what I was after.   

The OM was a few hundred more, being sunburst, so went for the 00.  The spacing and neck feel great.  Also, it sounds like a much bigger guitar than its size suggests.  Actually these 2 guitars sounded similar, the OM a but more open and the 00 a bit more focused.

I’ll revisit the OM plan in the future, but for this purchase was the E20 00 TC.  Fairly Ironic because I started a thread about a wide nut 00 being what I wanted, but veered into OM/000 options.  Turns out what I wanted, was what I wanted!

https://rguitars.co.uk/products/eastman-e20-oom-inc-100-professional-setup-added-value

Set up is getting done next week then they will post out.

Sounds like a very worthwhile trip and congratulations on the E20-00.
I bought the Eastman E10-00 that @Shadow was selling a few weeks ago and I'm glad I did. 

Lovely chunky C neck, wide nut, 2 3/8" string spacing at the saddle and a powerful dry voice with the Adirondack over mahogany.
I bet it sounds lovely in Rosewood too, enjoy! 

Dave_Mc

Awesome, excellent score! Also nice to see I wasn't completely off regarding how the Dowinas sound! 

menamestom

Dave_Mc said:

Awesome, excellent score! Also nice to see I wasn't completely off regarding how the Dowinas sound! 

To be fair, I only tried a couple of the OMG model and parlour, nothing bigger, they might sound more robust.
Glad I tried them, you can lay anything on anything but some brands definitely suit some styles more than others.

menamestom

Gandalph said:

menamestom said:

Sounds like a very worthwhile trip and congratulations on the E20-00.

I bought the Eastman E10-00 that @Shadow was selling a few weeks ago and I'm glad I did. 

Lovely chunky C neck, wide nut, 2 3/8" string spacing at the saddle and a powerful dry voice with the Adirondack over mahogany.
I bet it sounds lovely in Rosewood too, enjoy! 

Thanks.  They had the mahogany as well, they sounded very close to be fair.  I think the size combined with the power of the Adirondack top makes the back wood slightly less critical.  Agreed on the spacing and neck, it just feels right but I can see how it isn’t for everybody. 

menamestom

sev112 said:

Lovely piece of wood, and sounds a good experience. I gave you a mental wave as I drove past on the M40 a couple of times today

looks great piece of wood, hope you love it and it makes you play more and better

Cheers, yeah can’t wait to get playing it.  No more shoulder ache after 30 mins, I can annoy everybody in the house for hours now! 

Shadow

That's a great choice. I loved everything about the E10-00 apart from the chunky neck. I actually ended up taking a punt on the Auden Emily Rose Neo (Neo is their no frills range) and I like it a lot. The neck is fairly substantial but not like the Eastmans. It's got a softer tone thanks to the cedar top and as you say, a surprising amount of bass for the size.

menamestom

Shadow said:

That's a great choice. I loved everything about the E10-00 apart from the chunky neck. I actually ended up taking a punt on the Auden Emily Rose Neo (Neo is their no frills range) and I like it a lot. The neck is fairly substantial but not like the Eastmans. It's got a softer tone thanks to the cedar top and as you say, a surprising amount of bass for the size.

Good buy!  The Emily Rose really stood out.  I was tempted because of the electronics as well that looked good although the cedar one had top mounted controls, but I prefer non-permanent options.  I think I moved on from the cedar one mainly because of that.   The Mahogany was its own thing, the cedar would cover more ground. 

The neo’s are an absolute bargain.  The Dowina parlour sounded like a toy in comparison, but appreciate some people like the boxy parlour tone.  The Auden’s didn’t have a trace of that.
I preferred the Emily Rose to the Eastman Parlour.

If I was gigging acoustic I would have gone for the Emily Rose.  Let me know how the electronics sound if you have them on yours.