Since seeing James Dean Bradfield playing an Eastman Juliet this summer, I've been hankering to try an Eastman.
The Juliet is perhaps the right guitar for me at the wrong time as I really want either a LP junior style guitar or a semi acoustic with a bigsby (very specific I know!). So the Eastman 55 and the T486B might be options. Or I just might go for the Juliet (though its a bit outside my budget).
But just wondering if there are any views and opinions out there on Eastman guitars? A quick search showed a lot of FS posts, so I don't know if that's a bad sign. But looking for something different compared to the usual Gibson and Fender purchases.
Comments
There didn't seem to be any consensus at all, some reviewers were strongly in favour of Eastman, others very much preferred Maybach. Some ranked them pretty much equally.
I concluded that the only way to know would be to actually try them, but I still haven't.
Buy. Used.
I’ve played a bunch of their electrics as well and would happily own any of them - they’re one of the few brands I would risk buying unseen.
Im still hankering after a Gibson or Benedetto archtop though. I suspect if I’d gone for an Eastman Les Paul or es-335 I’d also be hankering after the Gibson equivalent. Therein lies the rub.
All handcrafted, beautifully finished, good consistency. Their violins have the same rep - aka concert level quality for reasonable money.
Have an SB59 (non v version) after looking for a lifer les paul when funds were there last year. At retail prices, even now, well worth the money. The v versions are at gibbo CS level no doubt about it. Only difference to a musician is about £4k
They dont come set up that well imho, so read the specs of setup, might be up peoples street and is pretty normal / plenty of (bone) nut to play with, if action needs lowering. Just the necks i think on sb59 anyway people may thing are a bit thick/high shoulders. But they all differ and not that difficult to solve for a player. Could be like that on other models.
My SB59 is best bang for buck double humbucker guitar ive ever played. Sounds better than the 1979 gibbo les paul custom i owned, but does not play better. Sounds better than by bros custom shop les paul custom (not r8/9 etc) and plays as well.
Deffo worth trying one off here imho for a sell on at little/no loss if you dont like it.
Absolutely agree. One of the things I have found over the last 6 years is I have had too many Gibsons and I am yet to keep one of them. I think one of the problems is that I have been lucky enough to play a few vintage Gibson guitars that were utterly incredible, but were totally out of my financial reach. These then ruined every Gibson I purchased as they were never as good. The Maybach I own has the feel that I was looking for.