Members formosa Posted July 19, 2008 Members Share Posted July 19, 2008 I'm looking for an archtop for jazz (Pat Martino, Emily Remler, Wes Montgomery, Jimmy Bruno, Jim Hall etc.) for What do you guys think about Eastman? Chinese made? How is the quality. I'm going to go play one at my local guitar store and check it out. Comments welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ehlpitel Posted July 19, 2008 Members Share Posted July 19, 2008 They look nice, I've never played one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Pascal Posted July 19, 2008 Members Share Posted July 19, 2008 Hard to beat for the price. I don't have a single bad thing to say about mine: Great acoustic and amplified tones, great playability, fantastic workmanship (900 series). Make sure you also try their models with built-in pickup too, they may be closer to what you're after. Many also love their El Rey models. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mikeSF Posted July 20, 2008 Members Share Posted July 20, 2008 Happy Eastman customer here...have owned 3 of 'em so far...a 6-string 810, then replaced it with a 7-string 810-7 and recently traded up to a 7-string 910-7. I love the guitars. in the $2K-ish range, there is nothing else very close in a hand carved spruce top with lots of voice. great choice. good luck. here's mine: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeuceII Posted July 27, 2008 Members Share Posted July 27, 2008 I had an AR805CE IIRC, cutaway with a floating pickup. I loved it, wish now I'd never sold it but I was burned out on trying (and failing) to play jazz for four years. I thought the craftsmanship was excellent even on the lower budget 800 series. I tried one in a local shop several years ago and basically fell in love with it, but then tried another one about a year later when I was ready to buy and the neck was completely different. Apparently earlier necks were nice and thick, sort of a D shaped profile, then they got thinner and flatter for a while. That was the second one I tried out, but apparently they went back to the thicker necks after a lot of customer feedback. Bear in mind that these are all hand made, even if it is in China, and each one will feel and sound a bit different. I bought mine online since I couldn't find the neck I wanted locally, but talked to the sales man about it a lot before I ordered it (had him play the guitar and describe the neck feel). I also looked at the 810's at the time, which have a bit more bass response due to the 17" body, but I'm a small guy and the 16" body of the 806 fit me perfectly. Also the 810 had a few intonation problems on the high strings, something a tech could probably remedy but I didn't feel like paying for that on top of the guitar. $2000 is $2000 whether that's a steal for the instrument (it is, I agree) or not you want it to function right without any other adjustments. So I guess my advice is try before you buy if possible, and try out several of the same model if possible, even though I didn't really follow my own advice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members formosa Posted July 29, 2008 Author Members Share Posted July 29, 2008 Happy Eastman customer here...have owned 3 of 'em so far...a 6-string 810, then replaced it with a 7-string 810-7 and recently traded up to a 7-string 910-7. I love the guitars. in the $2K-ish range, there is nothing else very close in a hand carved spruce top with lots of voice. great choice. good luck. here's mine: Mike, I went and played a AR810CE today. It was amazing! I was wondering if you could kinda write a little review about it. The price was $1629 with case included, seemed like a good deal. What's up with the volume control? Tucked away under the pickguard? There is no tone control? Is that problem? The only other jazz guitar I have played is an Ibanez Af120. Look forward to hear your response! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members formosa Posted July 30, 2008 Author Members Share Posted July 30, 2008 I decided to go with a 97' Ibanez AF200 MIJ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jim_Soloway Posted July 30, 2008 Members Share Posted July 30, 2008 I decided to go with a 97' Ibanez AF200 MIJ! Probably a good move. The Eastman is a great guitar for the money, but it strikes me as being a lot more of an acoustic tone than you were looking for. The Af200 should do that smokier, 60's style jazz tone really well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members iansmitchell Posted July 30, 2008 Members Share Posted July 30, 2008 Epiphone, IMO, is the king of hollowbodies. The ibanez neck profile is terrible.... A joe pass emperor(put a minihum with a mounting ring in the humbuck space or neck mount, HB-sized P90 bridge, you've got a jazz machine) or a regent might fit the bill aswell. I personally have also found the dirty trick of using a neck mount humbucker on a 335-style semihollow with a bigsby can get that jazz tone really easily as well. Joe pass:http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Epiphone-Joe-Pass-Emperor-II-Electric-Guitar?sku=518550Regent:http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Epiphone-Emperor-Regent-Electric-Guitar?sku=518545 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members formosa Posted July 31, 2008 Author Members Share Posted July 31, 2008 The ibanez neck profile is terrible.... Which Ibanez model are you talking about? and why are recommending me $600 guitars when my price range is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members formosa Posted July 31, 2008 Author Members Share Posted July 31, 2008 Probably a good move. The Eastman is a great guitar for the money, but it strikes me as being a lot more of an acoustic tone than you were looking for. The Af200 should do that smokier, 60's style jazz tone really well. That's all I hear about the Eastman. Great deal. Good guitar for the money. However, I didn't like how light and thin it felt and who knows what these guitars are going to look like in a couple years. How will they wear? Will they last. The Ibanez is already over 10 years old. kekeke Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jim_Soloway Posted August 2, 2008 Members Share Posted August 2, 2008 Ephiphone is the king of hollowbodies? Holy {censored}... Which Ibanez model are you talking about? and why are recommending me $600 guitars when my price range is Actually, if you look at vintage Epiphones, you could make a good case for that. The original Epiphones before Gibson bought them out in the 50's were incredible guitars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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