I was watching tv coverage of the Californian fire storms. I hope none of you have suffered from the terrible devastation. Alan

I just picked up a very slightly used Eastman HE120CE from Guitar Center, Tukwila, WA. I would say it's comparable to Taylor's 110CE, but has a better low-end. I got it for $359.99 with a Taylor HSC. I traded in a Yamaha FGX800 which is a great guitar for the money, but the Eastman is a definite step up.It sounds very nice plugged or unplugged and will be my "take to jam sessions without worry" guitar from now on. You can see photos of one on Reverb.
Does anyone know the difference between the HE120CE and the AC120CE?

One of the greatest of all time has passed at 85.

Malaguena:

I've just been looking at a 2017 used E6om in mint condition which I quite like (God it would be cheaper for me to pay for a good therapist!). The main issue for me is the fact that it has been re-fretted by a luthier with stainless steel Jescars, and they are set slightly higher than the original frets. What are the implications of this for me? The seller says 'I just prefer slightly higher frets as it makes the acoustic play a bit more like my electrics. I find I needs less fretting pressure to cleanly fret chords with the higher frets. They're not huge by any means. The new frets are the same stainless steel frets that are fitted standard on my Suhr electric and very similar size to a Fender Strat's Dunlop 6105 frets. The standard Eastman frets were pretty small and low.' Travel distance effectively precludes my benefitting from a hands-on. Should I be wary of buying this guitar? What is the likely impact on sound/playability of these frets? I know next to nothing about fret materials/fittings. 

Hi,

I currently own an Ibanez AS93, but am contemplating to upgrade to an Eastman semihollow :-)

I have been researching for some time and I am currently leaning towards the T186MX. I was actually close to pulling the trigger until I saw that my local Eastman dealer had increased the prices on his homepage - apparently only because of the new 2018 models. As a result the T186MX (and other T18x guitars) has now had a price increase of roughly 20 % from EUR 1.970 to EUR 2.370 (or in USD, 2,217 to 2,670). That seems like a pretty steep increase and I am curious if it is a global thing or just here in Denmark...

Thanks for you input.

SOLD  PENDING  RECEIPT  OF  PAYMENT
MINT New Condition Eastman AJ816CE Archback Cutaway, Medium Jumbo 16" Size of a Dreadnaught, Fishman Electronics, Volume & Tone Control Knobs Inside Sound Hole, Maple Body, Spruce Top, Wonderful Voice, Great Projection. Discontinued 16" Jumbo. Xlent HS Case. A stunning beautiful guitar every feature and component. Eastman's most expensive flattop guitar in 2012. MSRP: $2,075 in 2012 Eastman Catalog at this link: https://ecitydoc.com/download/2012-catalog-5_pdf
PRICE LOWERED ON 12/8/18 TO $1025 FIRM SHIPPED
MAY TRADE FOR AN EASTMAN HOLLOW BODY ELECTRIC or "WILL TRADE" for an Eastman AC522.

Prices Firm, Shipped. Paypal Add $20 or Add $0 for Personal Check or Cashier's Check
Eastman AJ816CE Price $1150

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I'm an Eastman dealer and occasionally order left handed guitars because being a lefty myself I understand the hassle of finding lefty instruments. I got in a T486L fully intending to sell it but when I picked it up I was intrigued, when I plugged it in I was sold. 

I own plenty of other guitars but I feel such a bond with this guitar. The feel, the tone and the looks blow me away and fits right into my style. I always longed for a 335 but with the T486 I feel my longing is over. It's a shame that some people are so bias  towards big brands and ignore the others because I'll put this toe to toe with any of them.

(11-13-2018, 05:52 AM)Thedman Wrote:  

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Being imbued with a powerful sense of curiosity (and Knowing that lots of you are closet fiddlers - I'm not) I contacted Eastman to enquire if they produce a violin using torrified tone woods, which might reproduce something of the revered sounds of 18th century instruments (I know the varnishes of the period are held to be the major factor here). They don't but were non-committal about possible future developments  'We do not currently carry a violin with a torrified top, but are experimenting with different processes'.
Had I been born rich instead of beautiful, I would hot foot it to a top notch luthier and employ his skills to design and build a classical guitar with torrified top and violin varnish finish. It mightn't be a successful experiment in terms of the resulting instrument but would be worth it anyway. What an absolutely fascinating project that would be and I would learn so much!

I believe that hydration is important.  My beliefs have been formed reading what many long time, experienced luthiers have to say.  Builders take constant moisture content readings of their wood all along the way, many say that about 47% is optimum during the building process.

Depending on where you live and seasonal climate factors should help decide things.  If you live in Arizona vs where I live (Piedmont of the Smokies)... dry vs humid climate is normal.  Piedmont has 4 distinct seasons, heating and a/c take care of things during summer/winter.  During fall/spring I run a Frigidaire de-humidifier most of the time... unimaginable how much water is in the air.  The past two months I have dumped the water bucket (1.6gals) every day just to keep between 55-60%.  (note - I move it around but run it more often in my guitar room)
 
Also, I have two Thermo-Hygrometers, one in my guitar room and the 2nd one at the other end of the house.  Mine came from AmbientWeather.com in Arizona, model# ws-03, ~ $13ea... many choices for these devices.  Pros often use very expensive devices that are more accurate but I don't see the need for home use.

The unfinished wood inside the guitar gradually picks up or looses moisture from the air.  Too wet the wood swells / lower bout bellies.. too low and the dry wood cracks.  Just a fact of being a guitar owner.  Many people run humidifiers in the winter months for too dry.  I installed a whole house AprilAir system that I can switch on when humidity goes below 40%.  I check the hygrometers year round.

Winter is now arriving and I will reduce use of the Frigidaire de-humidifier as needed.  bert

This is the first new acoustic I've bought in a few years so I was pretty excited for it to arrive.
You all know what it's like waiting for that big brown truck to arrive, it's torture!
After waiting all day on Friday, UPS finally pulled up to my house at 6pm and as luck would have it, I was home alone.
The weather was mild so no need to wait for it to acclimate, I opened it right up.
This is the first Eastman I've bought that didn't come with a nice hard-shell case. Instead, it came with an Eastman padded gig bag. It's a decent gig bag so no complaints there. I unzipped the gig bag and sitting inside was a really beautiful looking guitar. I've always liked more traditional looking guitars with natural finishes but the stained, satin finish on this guitar is really something. I checked all sides looking for scratches, dents or imperfections and I could find none. Visually the guitar was perfect!

Normally, I won't even strum a new guitar until I change the strings and take a look at the setup.
But, I'm a little out of practice so I dove right in. Big mistake, the first strum sounded, boxy, dull and lifeless and I immediately thought I made a mistake buying this guitar. I started thinking, will it be cheaper to send it back and eat the shipping both ways or sell it at a loss. Then I noticed the strings. I could tell they were old and you could see some crud on each one as if this guitar had been played quite a bit on this set of strings. I still didn't have much hope as it didn't sound good at all but I figured let's give it a fair chance with a fresh set of D'addario EJ16 and see what's what. Before changing the strings, I checked the relief, measured the action and checked the nut. The guitar was set up perfectly with the action a hair under 6/64" at the low E and a hair above 4/64" at the high e. The relief was set perfectly and the nut slots were cut perfectly. It was set up exactly the way I would do it myself. There was a good amount of saddle showing and the bottom of the D string measured exactly 1/2" off the top. The neck angle on this one is perfect! None of that would matter if this thing sounded like it was stuffed with a blanket after a string change. Luckily that was not the case. A new set of strings and a few minutes of playing made this guitar come alive. No more boxiness which is what I was most concerned about with a small guitar like this. I only had a few minutes before my wife came home so I put it in its case with more than a little relief that it wasn't a dud. 

I spent the weekend playing it and I just could not put it down. It is an amazing little guitar that is so much fun to play. It's pretty loud for its size and it's super responsive. The notes just fly off the fretboard. The nut width is 1-11/16" but it doesn't present any issues for me like I thought it might. There is no boxiness to it at all and it is super balanced. My other guitars seem so bass heavy in comparison.

Anyway, I went from super low when I heard that first strum to super high as I was playing it for hours and hours this weekend! I bought it from Sylvan Music in Santa Cruz, CA. and they were great to deal with. As I've said the setup was perfect so it got me thinking about how it got that way. They must have set it up there at Sylvan but it would be odd to set up a guitar without asking the customer how they like it. Maybe it was a return which would account for the played in strings. But would someone do a setup on it unless they planned to keep it? Some stores won't even take a guitar back if the setup has been adjusted.  I remember reading a review of this model either here or on the AGF and someone mentioned that the sales manager at Sylvan liked it so much, he kept one in the back for his own use. Maybe this was that one and that would explain the strings and the setup. None of it really matters as it is a keeper for sure. I'm so happy to have gotten this beauty and at $719 shipped, it was a steal!