New pickup day! Arrived a day early, even better - thanks to "gear nuts" on Reverb, which turns out to be Sweetwater, as the package arrived with candy and a Sweetwater sticker [img]data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7[/img].

I needed a pickup for the new E6D-TC, so I ordered a Mojotone NC-1. I saw the videos, saw the reviews, and wondered if it'd live up to the hype. My initial impression is that it not only lives up to it, it exceeds it. Right now I'm using it without permanent installation, but that might change if I get tired of putting it in and taking it out, or of the cable running down the face of the guitar. Popped it in, plugged into my Boss Acoustic Singer live, and instantly heard my guitar, just louder. With my various piezo equipped guitars, I need to use the "acoustic resonance" feature on the amp to get rid of the quack and have an approximation of what the guitar sounds like. With the monotone I turned the AR clean off. I tried all 3 AR settings, and it sounds good through all, but turned off it just sounds like my guitar. Not sure how they did it with a mag pickup, but color me impressed.

Will report back after band practice tonight with further impressions, but for the moment - WOW.

Here, since we all like pics, have a couple.

Attached Files

e6d6.jpg

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e6d7.jpg

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Hi Eastman friends,
Here are two little videos to compare the different tones produced by the picks.
The 810ce is played unplugged, to give a better idea of the difference.
As mentionned, the variety of tone is a bit the same as using tone pot on the pickup.

The pick used in the videos are, by order :
1/ Dugain, ebonite (4mm)
2/ Dunlop gator (1.14mm)
3/ D-grip, teardrop (0.9mm)
It goes from warmer dark tone to brighter sound.
Hope this will makes sense (and sorry for the rough playing...!)

Best regards, Alain C.

I played this one in the Mandolin Store the other day when I bought my E6D-TC. Marked down due to a slight ding on the top that's hardly noticeable - it actually looks worse in the pic on their website than it does in person. If it had had a wider nut, it would've come home with me along with the E6D . I'm not affiliated, just want to see this one go to a good home.

https://themandolinstore.com/product/eas...-shopworn/

How would you compare RK tone vs Eastman tone ?

I was planning for an E8OM-TC (1600 eur) but I saw that RK has new high end model, especially the 000 guitar RO-342 (1000 eur) has nice specs:
AAA adi top
EIR back side
1 piece mahogany neck
Ebony fretboard
1-3/4 width neck
Interesting V shape neck

https://youtu.be/-SYzseiRhW0

Last week, I was traveling through SoCal on a college tour for my daughter.  I was fortunate to visit the Eastman HQ in Pomona, where Mark Herring showed me around their warehouse and offices.

The first thing I noticed is that Eastman is doing great things with relatively few people. When I visited, there were probably less than a dozen people in the setup / office areas, plus about the same working in each of the two warehouses (one for guitars, one for strings).

There were two guys in the luthier shop: Otto and another guy, who was on his way to the Bourgeois facility in Maine for an indefinitely amount of time. They are really creating a symbiotic relationship between China, Pomona, and Maine, where all three facilities are learning from each other. Mark explained to me how they've been successful with similar acquisitions in their orchestral instrument lines (e.g. Haynes flutes). Eastman gains in process knowledge, while Bourgeois gains in distribution, especially into the Asia market, and both gain with wood and material sourcing (Eastman's founder loves to buy quality wood).

I didn't take any photos in this area b/c there were a couple of unannounced guitars in the room, and I didn't want to risk anything leaking ahead of NAMM. After 18 years working at Apple, I've learned to respect company confidentiality and found myself consciously trying not to look any any of the new guitars.

There were two guys working in the setup shop. These guys perform the final inspections and setups on all of the acoustic and electric guitars that get sold in North and South America. There's been a lot of discussion about volume, and they confirmed they're inspecting 40-50 guitars per day and shipping close to 25k guitars annually (not sure if that's worldwide or Americas). That's an increase from the 4-6k they were doing back in 2017, but a fraction of what the big guitar companies are doing.

The upstairs area contains a typical office layout with cubicles for marketing and sales, a studio area for photos and sound, and a break area to play some guitar or just chill out. It's functional and efficient, which seems consistent with so much at Eastman. There were two people from Marketing, two more in the studio, and another person in the break area. Steve (sales) and Dan (customer service) were both out of the office, so I didn't get to meet them, and the Americas president was also out. It's remarkable that so few people are driving so much work, answering our questions, spending time online, trade shows, working with dealers, etc.

I didn't get to tour the strings offices (just the warehouse / setup area), but it probably had a similar layout. The strings warehouse seemed slightly larger, since the instruments are bigger. I took a few photos from this side, which I can add later on.

Here are some photos from my tour. Thanks to Mark and the gang at Eastman for giving me a peak inside of their world, so I could share it here.

Eastman HQ: Pomona, CA


Setup Room:




Eastman Guitar Alien:


Setup Techs:




Warehouse:

Here you go. Video coming soon on the TAS channel.

https://www.facebook.com/100063589123334...tid=SDPelY

John

I played an E20SSv last year and after reading this review - https://www.eastmanguitarfans.com/Thread...ull-Review  I decided to pick one up. I found one in OK with a 1.744" nut and life is good. NGD  post to follow sometime down the road.

In one of the TAS videos they reference an E22 but couldn't divulge any additional information until NAMM. I just noticed the label on the shipping box for my E20 

The S/N agrees with the COA  as well as the label inside the guitar - M2200163.

So is this really the elusive E22? Is the box model number a misprint? Is this much ado about nothing? Inquiry minds want to know. Maybe one of the dealers can comment.

Flying out now. Lots of cool first looks. Follow the channel to see lots of live content starting tomorrow.

John

This has probably been discussed multiple times in the past, so forgive me for showing a rerun.

Any recommendations for tried and true replacements/upgrades of stock tuners on the AR-810?