Members Glenn F Posted January 22, 2010 Members Share Posted January 22, 2010 I think it's a keeper. With my experience buying online and at a local shop, the first guitar bought has rarely been the last word in the transaction. I am cautiously optimistic that this will be an exception, though. I have a few quibbles with it, none of them serious enough to send the guitar back. First the good stuff; The Eastman AC 412 is a beautiful guitar, very light, and, with new strings, sounds very sweet. The neck is very comfortable (at least to me), more so than I found Larrivee necks. It will take a bit of getting used to, and may need a fret dressing, but, on the whole, I am pleased. This is my first steel string acoustic with rosewood back and sides, and the difference in sound texture in contrast to my other guitars is fairly apparent. The body is exactly the shape I'd hoped it would be. It is a 000-sized guitar, very comfortable to play, and, tonally, sweet and a bit bright (though in a good way!) as you'd expect a guitar this size to sound. The quibbles; It came with dead strings. At first, when I hit the 5th and 6th strings, they just went 'plonk, plonk.' Sounded very dead, and I started thinking of the Larrivee L0-3R I tried out a couple of years back whose 5th and 6th strings were dead, new strings or not. I've put on some fresh D'addario light PBs, and the results are great. The ebony fretboard isn't uniform in colour; I don't know what the deal is here, but I'll just say it adds character, and leave it at that. You can see in the picture. There are a couple of flaws in the finish, as in bits of dirt or dust underneath the lacquer. Again, not a deal breaker. For the most part, the woods and finish of this guitar are beautiful. Ok, going to upload pics, and then go and play her! The pics don't do her justice, btw! Cheers! Glenn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members TESmith Posted January 22, 2010 Members Share Posted January 22, 2010 Wow it has a simple elegance! It is a nice looking guitar, if it has the sounds you like, Should be a good addition to your collection! Hope it gives you much enjoyment and helps you crank out much music! Congratulations! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mgproudfit Posted January 22, 2010 Members Share Posted January 22, 2010 Beautiful! Happy NGD! -Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bigald18 Posted January 22, 2010 Members Share Posted January 22, 2010 Great looking guitar Glenn! I'm sure it sounds as good as it looks. By the way, it is fairly common for ebony to have streaking in it today. Enjoy! BigAl Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Glenn F Posted January 22, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 22, 2010 Thanks! For anyone interested, I did a quick and nasty demo. Two Paul McCartney songs: Jenny Wren, and Blackbird. One stumble in Jenny Wren . http://www.myguitarspace.com/profile/GlennFreeman Cheers! Glenn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hudman Posted January 22, 2010 Members Share Posted January 22, 2010 Congrats! I briefly owned an AC312. It was a nice sounding guitar, but the quality was a little weak (rough fret ends, dirt in the finish and the finish was heavy in spots). I bought it on Ebay for less than $400. I ended up selling it because I liked my Larrivee OM3 better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Elias Graves Posted January 22, 2010 Members Share Posted January 22, 2010 Beautiful. I'm a huge Eastman fan. EG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members panhandler Posted January 22, 2010 Members Share Posted January 22, 2010 Glenn she's a beaut! Congratz! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ccasey Posted January 22, 2010 Members Share Posted January 22, 2010 HNGD! I always seem to hear and read excellent things about the quality of Eastman guitars. Enjoy!Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members EJStrat2Tone Posted January 22, 2010 Members Share Posted January 22, 2010 I have an Eastman AC720. I damaged the guitar in a store by accident so the owner said I could pay 300 to cover the cost of the nick (my friend said it was way too much for the damage) or buy the guitar for 700 which is what I decided to do. It was a mom and pop and the store is pretty cool, I had the dough so I just wanted to make things right in the owner's mind. He's a cool guy. Grayson's in Montrose CA. Anyway, I kind of liked it and then just put it aside for a while. I'm a Martin guy mainly. Pulled it out after about 6 months and it sounded a bit dull. So I put Light Gauge Elixer strings on (12s) and man it really sprung to life. Also action is really easy on the guitar and I've really grown to like it. My main issue was such a high cost for a guitar made in China and resale value because people really don't know this name. But the Eastman is now a winner in my book, feels really good and sounds great when I play it. An undiscovered gem of a guitar company. Oh and the hard shell case it comes with is really nice! I put the Eastman into a gigbag and put my Electromatic Gretsch 5120 into the case and it fit perfectly. In a way my Eastman is my very high quality, expensive beater which I would never take to the beach but would put in the car for travel when I visit the bay area to see family. One more thing, the Headstock looks much better than the Taylor headstock, which I'm not into but I do like their guitars. The NGD Eastman on this page looks very nice. Congrats. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members guildfire Posted January 22, 2010 Members Share Posted January 22, 2010 Looks great. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gitnoob Posted January 22, 2010 Members Share Posted January 22, 2010 Congrats! I briefly owned an AC312. It was a nice sounding guitar, but the quality was a little weak (rough fret ends, dirt in the finish and the finish was heavy in spots). I bought it on Ebay for less than $400. I ended up selling it because I liked my Larrivee OM3 better. Hud, I thought you got an AC308 -- that's their smaller GC. Did you get an AC312 as well? I ended up replacing my Larrivee OM19 with an Eastman AC512. The Larrivee was nice, but it was a bit dark and quiet. The Eastman is light and airy and much louder (about the same volume as a Larrivee L05). Anyway, congrats Glenn! Did you measure the depth and scale length? I'm curious if you got the "standard" 4-1/8" deep 25" scale or one of the variations. And I recognize that characteristic Eastman "shimmer" in your sound clip. I always have trouble describing that sound. Bright overtones rather than bright due to lack of bass. Edit: oops, almost forgot your goat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hudman Posted January 22, 2010 Members Share Posted January 22, 2010 Hud, I thought you got an AC308 -- that's their smaller GC. Did you get an AC312 as well?. You are correct, it was an AC308. It was a grand concert size. I was told it was part of the initial test run of the Eastman flat top line. The quality issues could have been due to the fact that it was one of their first models. It looks like their newer models are higher quality, but I am surpised how expensive some of them are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members seagullplayer77 Posted January 22, 2010 Members Share Posted January 22, 2010 Sweet guitar, Glenn ! Congratulations on the NGD. Here's hoping that you get many years of enjoyment out of your new Eastman. Back when I was looking for a mandolin, it seemed like Eastman got lots of solid reviews. I ended up buying a MidMo mandolin instead, but it sure sounds like Eastman makes a solid instrument . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Glenn F Posted January 22, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 22, 2010 Anyway, congrats Glenn!Did you measure the depth and scale length? I'm curious if you got the "standard" 4-1/8" deep 25" scale or one of the variations. Hi, Yes, it is 4-1/8" deep at the lower bout, and 25" scale length. Very comfortable to play, although the smaller scale is making my fingers bump into each other, a bit. Odd how half an inch can change the feel of a guitar! My wife says it sounds somewhat like my Taylor 310, though I think it sounds close to a Martin 000 I tried a while back. In any case, I am quite pleased with it. My luthier will probably lower the action a bit, and, possibly, do a fret dressing, but that is about all it needs. I have thoughts of taking this out to the park on nice sunny days, but I dunno. This guitar is really light as a feather, and I suspect it wouldn't take a lot to do serious damage to it. I'll probably take my Seagull Entourage Rustic Mini Jumbo instead. That is probably good for hand-to-hand combat! lol... Again, thanks for the good wishes, everyone! Cheers! Glenn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fingerpicker Posted January 22, 2010 Members Share Posted January 22, 2010 I went to a local shop with alot of Larrivee and a few decent martins and they have one Eastman that blows all of them away! Eastman are awesome sounding, and I know what you mean about the frets but its an easy fix. Some are rough some arent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Glenn F Posted January 22, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 22, 2010 Ok, There might be a bit of a problem with the neck angle. Going over Freeman's 'healthy guitar' primer in the Annex, I measured the neck angle, and the ruler bumps into the bridge about 1/16th" from the its top. I did this with my other guitars, and they all pass that test perfectly. The Eastman doesn't. I'll have to have my luthier look at it asap, I guess. Sigh.... Glenn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gitnoob Posted January 22, 2010 Members Share Posted January 22, 2010 IMO, the real test of "correct" neck angle is the string distance from the top near the bridge. If it's close to 1/2", then neck angle is fine. Edit: here's a reference.http://www.frets.com/FRETSpages/Musician/Guitar/Setup/NeckAngle/neckangle.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Glenn F Posted January 22, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 22, 2010 I checked that, too. The top of the E string is about a hair below the 1/2" point. The action is somewhere between 3/32" and 4/32" at the 12th fret. We don't have anything that can give us that precise a measurement, but that height is relatively normal, AFAIK. Is this possibly a humidity problem? A few of the frets are a bit sharp, though the body doesn't seem sunken. The guy who does my guitar work for me is literally a Master Luthier, so I'll talk with him early next week. Cheers, Glenn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Glenn F Posted January 22, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 22, 2010 Sounds great! What album is Wren on? That's a cool chart. Jenny Wren is on 'Chaos and Creation in the Backyard.' Beautiful song. I think that is Paul's original Epi Texan, that he played 'Yesterday' on. Cheers, Glenn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Glenn F Posted January 23, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 23, 2010 I think it's a keeper. With my experience buying online and at a local shop, the first guitar bought has rarely been the last word in the transaction. I am cautiously optimistic that this will be an exception, though. My track record seems to be intact. OK, the Eastman is going back to the shop. I tried hard to love her, but the more I played her, the more reservations piled up. I played her until 2:00 AM last night, and went to bed convinced that the guitar was not for me. For one thing, while the guitar sounded 'live' with brand new, fresh, strings, that 'liveness' evaporated after a few hours of playing. It sounded very plain and dull this morning. Playing it for a few hours, I also observed that I didn't like the frets, or the fretboard. The frets were quite high, and I felt like I was bumping into them, moving up and down the fretboard. The fretboard (ebony) should've felt better. I have a few guitars with ebony fretboards, and they all enhance movement up the neck, not inhibit it. The fretboard didn't seem to enhance my ability to move up the neck. The neck itself was quite comfortable, but that isn't enough, unfortunately. The fact that the fret ends were sharp did not enter into my calculus for returning the guitar, as that could be easily fixed. Staying in tune was also an issue. Also, the action on the first string was about as high as the action on the 6th strings, which I found a little odd, and gave me pause when considering sanding the saddle. No, on the whole, I just got the feeling that this guitar was not for me. It is a very pretty guitar, something to turn heads (it certainly turned mine!) but, in the end, it did not deliver where it really counts. I went to my local shop, and was determined to fall in love with an Epi Masterbilt EF-500M, and, while it sounded ok, I found the necks (I tried two of them) uncomfortable. There was also a couple of humps in the fretboard, and buzzing between the 2nd and 6th frets. At this point, I abandoned the notion that I could be happy with an inexpensive Chinese import, and tried a Martin 000-M. After playing the Epiphones, the Martin's neck seemed almost like that of an electric. The Martin also sang. The 000-M is a discontinued model, apparently. Too bad, because, for a lower-end Martin, I was hugely impressed. It is almost the 'anti-Eastman,' because it is very plain, with laminated mahogany back and sides. Yet, this guitar sang! But that's for another thread! Cheers, Glenn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members gitnoob Posted January 23, 2010 Members Share Posted January 23, 2010 OK, but that means I have to confiscate your goats. I can understand the Martin lust. Their low-profile C is my favorite neck. I alternate playing my 000-15S and my Eastman. I play the Martin for the neck and the sound, but when I get a little tired of that fundamental all-hog sound, I switch to the Eastman for the shimmer. It's an ideal approach for me. I'm always in love with something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members andy thompson Posted January 23, 2010 Members Share Posted January 23, 2010 Checked out your clip, lovely playing, beautiful tone, baroque / renaissance airs. Hope the necks ok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Hudman Posted January 23, 2010 Members Share Posted January 23, 2010 Sorry to hear that Glenn but it's best to take it back now rather than keep it with the hope you will bond with it later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Glenn F Posted January 23, 2010 Author Members Share Posted January 23, 2010 Sorry to hear that Glenn but it's best to take it back now rather than keep it with the hope you will bond with it later. Yeah, I was just thinking that we live in a time where there are so many options, guitar-wise, and store-wise. There was once a time when, if I bought a guitar, I'd be stuck with it if I had buyer's remorse. It happened to me a couple of times when I was young. Andy, thank you for your kind words. Cheers, Glenn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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