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I've owned an Eastman T64/TV for just over a month (Truetone Vintage Gloss in Classic finish without the "relic'ing" that is common with the antique varnish finish). It was shipped to me (in Canada) from Peach Guitars in the UK.
At the risk of seeming a tad neurotic (apologies for the ensuing essay), there are a few reasons to nitpick the craftsmanship and finish of the guitar that I would like to outline here. I've also attached photos of the guitar, including close-ups of the finish flaws that will be outlined below. I'd appreciate any feedback. I'm over the moon with the tone and playability of the guitar, so as someone who might look to purchase another Eastman guitar from an online retailer I'm hoping to get a better sense of the brand's quality control. Unfortunately in Canada there aren't many opportunities to find Eastman guitars in-store at the national distributor (Long & McQuade).
1. The multi-line purfling/binding was not installed evenly along the bass side of the neck. The three lines that run along the binding kind of look like a wave. It's bothersome that the binding is perfectly even everywhere else on the guitar; the only area it is imperfect is precisely the area within view while playing.
2. On the back of the guitar, there is a small area where the bottom of the binding meets the guitar body in one of the cutaways that either the finish was not applied or there was a blemish in either the maple laminate or binding that wasn't repaired. It's only half a centimetre wide, but because it looks like a sliver of unfinished maple it really stands out from the colour of the Classic finish.
3. Similar to gripes #1 and #2, the area of the guitar where the neck joins the body on the bass side - again, in view while playing - was not finished well. And since the neck joins the body at the 16th fret on the T64, the area is much more conspicuous that it would be on a T59. Frustratingly, the finish on the treble side along the neck/body joint is flawless.
4. The bridge pickup tone control is very stiff/scratchy within the 7-10 range of the pot, whereas the other three pots are as smooth as silk. This has no effect on the range of the pot or of tone tone of the guitar, it's just another cosmetic/QC issue.
5. And finally, the biggest shock to me is that the pieces of maple used for the three-piece neck were either not planed perfectly flat or they were not joined together correctly because there is a 5cm line down one of joints on the back of the neck with a gap about 1mm wide. The finish has of course filled this gap so it's not something that can be felt, but like the other points mentioned above it stands out visually.
When I saw the T64/TV listed on Peach Guitars' website I felt an overwhelming urge to buy the guitar, and I did. I've wanted this style of guitar for a number of years, and I think some of you will agree (OK, maybe all of you) that it's an absolutely stunning guitar. Of the five imperfections listed above, only one of them was visible in the photos of the guitar Peach provided: #2, the very small, unfinished sliver on the back of the guitar body. In hindsight I wish I had taken the time to ask a few more questions and request a few more photos from different angles in natural lighting; I worried that someone else would buy the guitar so I made the impulsive decision to buy it with no questions asked.
So are the imperfections on my guitar an anomaly for the brand, or are the cosmetic flaws all within a reasonable tolerance for a hand-crafted instrument? I'd like to believe that it is the latter.
Now I'm at exactly one month and one day with the T64/TV, and the more I play it the less I pay attention to the imperfections and the more I marvel at the tone. I've never played a guitar that felt so alive. It's almost shocking. I think this is due to the guitar being perfectly intonated, and I mean perfectly. But the pickups... Wow. The output of every string across every fret is absolutely balanced and unbelievably clear; the dynamic range just with picking/strumming intensity is tremendous - and this doesn't yet account for the wealth of tones afforded by the volume and tone pots.
After about 20 years of playing I thought I had my "dream" tone with a Strat or SG running through tone-shaping pedals (compression, boost, various overdrives and fuzz), but now in comparison that all sounds like a heavy blanket is smothering the amp. It's funny how sound can have that effect on us, like you don't know what frequencies you're missing until you hear them, and once you do there's no going back. It's what keeps us forever searching for our own six-stringed holy grail. And I've found mine, imperfections be damned.
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