Not sure if this is well-known yet, but African Khaya (African mahogany) is now considered a vulnerable species and has been added to CITES Appendix II as of February 2023. This very beautiful wood, with its holographic effect and shimmer has been a notable wood on Eastmans over the past years. Hopefully it will continue to be harvested sustainably. It seems all the visually beautiful woods eventually make it to the CITES list. I guess that's a good thing.

I'm in the market for a new acoustic, and I'm 99.9% certain it will be an Eastman. However, I have very few options to try locally before purchasing. I've played the satin AC122 variants, the koa 422, the 522, and the OMCE Deluxe. The lesser expensive models all had VERY old strings, so I didn't get the best impression from them. The 522 was shockingly bright, but that might be attributed to the top sound port. It was almost too bright for my tastes, especially with a thumbpick and acrylic nails. 

I already have a vintage Yairi dreadnought, so I'm leaning towards an OM. But there seems to be a consensus that the electronics are lacking until you get into the LR Baggs systems...and the price jump from the E1-OMCE Deluxe and the OMCE-QS is staggering. I also have no use for the fancy appointments and inlay. The only feature I consider an absolute must is a cutaway, which I know limits options.

For the finger pickers in here, which model do you like the most? Is the Fishman Presys VT adequate for professional use, or does everyone swap it out for a better pickup?

First post so hoping this is the place to ask this. I recently came into possession of a 2019 T486B.  Absolutely love it and I'm really enjoying playing it and getting to know it.  It is stock except for the Seth Lover pups which the previous owner installed.

The only thing that I am thinking about changing is to swap out the Pingwell tuners for a set of locking ones. They are the only thing on the guitar that doesn'tfeel quality and the action on one (the G string) feels different than the others. I would prefer to just do a pull off and drop in and not worry about removing the stock bushings or modify the headstock in any way. Looking online there is not a lot of info on options. It appears the Kluson Revolution non-collared might work. I would prefer Gotoh but I can't get a definitive answer on if they would work without modifications.

Hoping someone here has already done this and can share their experiences and suggestions.

Thanks in advance.

This guitar rocks me every time I play it. Just now it's 3 1/2 years old and it keeps getting better. 

Has anyone else fallen in love? 

It sounds like a resonant grand piano.

Amazing guitar. Thank you, Eastman.

I went to a small guitar store in Worthing to try a T184MX - loved it, but made the fatal mistake of just trying an SB59/v/
Very different guitars, but I couldn't decide which I loved more, so I came away with both. A rare spontaneous and indulgent moment.

I only had strats and teles and an archtop...now the family is bigger! 

cheers

This Eastman/Kauffman T64 was made as a homage to a 1967 Gibson ES330!

https://youtu.be/tHCiGcDf3u0t

Fingerstyle cover of Tommy Emmanuel's arrangement of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" from the Wizard of Oz, performed on my Eastman HE422CE

Hi Eastman family,

I have read, for a while now, that Gotoh SE Series tuners were most likely the "perfect direct 'drop-in'" option to replace the Ping Well stock tuners for the E1SS model.

When I got hold of the dimensions of the stock Ping Wells and dimensions of the 3 Gotoh SE models suggested, I saw that the measurements are not exactly the same.

So, my question is, will this selection require some drilling / filling after all? And, if so, does anyone know of alternatives to the Gotohs (of equal quality) that would be a TRUE "drop-in?"

Dimensions are attached, thanks so much for thoughts!

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Gotoh SE_sm.jpg

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PT 132_sm.jpg

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Some interesting guitars here - and good to hear from Alistair Atkin :-
https://ctrk.klclick.com/l/01M40CA7ERCHC...ATGVAG4_27

The first feature is Novo guitars which is of little interest to me personally - but it gets better.

Decided to record a video this past weekend comparing the Eastman HE422CE to the Taylor 414CE.