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Hi all. This is my first post on the forum. Long story short, I bought a mint second-hand E1OM and I'm struggling with its tone even after a pro set-up and I'm not sure what to do.
I tried one in a shop and enjoyed it but when I came to pull the trigger a few weeks later, they had sold out with a wait on restocking.
In the meantime one popped up on Reverb for a good price, so I bought it.
It arrived in perfect condition and the tone was gorgeous but the action was over 3mm and it was tough to play, especially barre chords.
Rather than irreversibly change the saddle by sanding it down, I tried a number of bone and tusq saddles. None of them sounded right as the crowns were shaped the opposite way to the original saddle, which sloped towards the neck with the flat side facing the bridge.
Eventually, I bit the bullet and sanded down the OG saddle to close to spec (about 2.4mm) and tried to adjust the truss rod but still barre chords were very stiff and buzzy/squeaky (I can play them fine on my cheap Yamaha acoustic and my electrics). The tone also less rich than before and a little muted on certain strings even.
After much tinkering with the truss rod, I gave up and got it looked at by my local tech. He charged me £80 (ouch) for basically changing the strings to 11s and, according to him at least, straightening the neck.
It sounds... ok. Not as nice as the one in the shop and not as nice as before I lowered the action. It is rather unforgiving to play and punishes even slightly sloppy chord fingerings with buzz more than any of my other guitars. This is especially true of barre chords but even some open chords.
I am using it to learn finger style and if its not too quiet, it's buzzing from overplucking the strings, even though my touch isn't all that heavy.
The D string is also rather muted and plinky from around the middle of the neck.
Is there anything I can do, or is it just a case that me and this particular guitar don't quite gel. I really want to love it, the sapele is gorgeous and the tone CAN be beautiful, when it's not buzzing or plinking. Any advice appreciated, as I WANT to be an Eastman fan!
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