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I found this one on Reverb after my last attempt to get one of these didn't go as planned.
This one arrived today, well-packed and intact (Yay!). The owner had swapped out the standard tuners for black Gotoh 510s: I like the look and I like the 18:1 gear ratio, too.
I'd asked the owner about the pickup, but he said he has no idea if it worked or not since he never played plugged in. I took the chance that the worst case scenario would be that the battery for the PU system was flat and didn't quibble about that, since he already had a good price for the guitar. And that was the case; the pickup battery was flat dead, but the owner had tossed a couple 9 volts in the case. I put one in and the pickup came back to life.
Things I like:
-- The guitar is gorgeous. The goldburst is a lovely finish
-- The beveled armrest is very comfortable.
-- The soundhole port on the upper bout sends the sound back to me when I play—my own private monitor. The soundhole port also gives a glimpse into the interior, which is immaculate. It should also help retrieving dropped picks
-- There's volume and tone controls in the soundhole, so I don't need to use my mixer to adjust volume.
-- This has just the right amount of bling for me; enough to make it look attractive, not so much that it looks 'overdressed.' I love all the wood on it.
— The guitar plays in tune all the way up and down the neck! No adjustment needed.
Things I didn't like but I can deal with:
-- Like every Eastman I've ever bought new, there's no strap button on the heel, and I personally hate wrapping the strap around the head, since if you put any pressure on it you pull the guitar out of tune (and I doubt that's good for the neck, anyway.) Eastman, just put a freaking strap button on the heel already! However, I have an extra (black) strap button, and I've already mounted four or five of those, so...
-- This is not a dreadnought, but a Grand Auditorium-size guitar There’s a little less bottom end than I’m used to with my dreads. But the strings ARE nicely balanced, sound-wise. When I’m playing live, I can adjust the sound as I wish.
-- The neck has a gloss finish, and I prefer a satin finish. However, it's not excessively sticky (at least so far), I've dealt with gloss necks in the past, and I figure that as I play it, I'll gradually wear away that finish.
-- The sound of the pick-up is OK, but frankly I think the K&K Pure Mini sounds better (plus the K&K doesn't require a battery). Maybe at some point in the future I'll have one put in this.
-- The strings on it are okay, but I'll probably swap 'em out.
Things I don’t like but can’t change.
— At the moment, nothing! And that’s good.
![[Image: T6PYBsW.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/T6PYBsW.jpg) ![[Image: LjgklsX.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/LjgklsX.jpg) ![[Image: ayuSLBN.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/ayuSLBN.jpg) ![[Image: uaJMXzz.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/uaJMXzz.jpg) ![[Image: 1J0EA60.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/1J0EA60.jpg) ![[Image: KUWo1jR.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/KUWo1jR.jpg) ![[Image: eOsPXlg.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/eOsPXlg.jpg) ![[Image: F5LczHD.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/F5LczHD.jpg)
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