Hello from another Minnesotan!

[Timelessdrifter]

Hello everyone!

First, let me apologize for not posting my introduction sooner. I've been lurking, and posted a couple of times, but no intro, so here's my intro.

I'm retired from a long career in IT, a decades long guitar player, damn near 70, married to love of my life. My love affair with guitars goes back a long way - bought my first Gibson electric (Wine colored ES-335TD) in 1972. Up until 30 years ago, I hung into a couple of acoustics, only for when acoustic was called for, but my love was for electrics mainly. I sold my acoustics, and until two years ago, I didn't own one.

In early 2022 on a whim, I bought a PRS SE P20 all mahogany parlor because I was intimately familiar with the PRS wide/fat neck, and for under $500, it sounded like a no-brainer! That lit the flame, gave me new inspiration to play and explore. A year later, PRS released the P50E (spruce top, maple sides), which wasn't the upgrade I thought it would be, but I still liked it, and between the two guitars, my electrics were for the first time since the 70s, getting no playing time.

I ran a small guitar business for a while - building and repairing guitars, amplifiers, upgrades and selling parts. There wasn't much about an electric (short of playing it, lol) that I didn't know. Yet here I was ignoring my electrics for the newfound unplugged love!

If I was going to upgrade further, I thought I'd better read everything I could about acoustics, different brands, tonewoods, strings, etc. Along the way, I discovered Eastman acoustics (I was already familiar with their electrics, having performed setups on a few) and also this forum!

I have an extensive collection of electrics, amps, tubes, etc, but am just getting deeper into the world free from wires, power and amplification. I own four acoustics presently:

PRS SE P20, all mahogany
PRS SE P50E, spruce and maple
Eastman E10OO-TC
Eastman E6OM-TC

I'm sure I'll have a lot of questions moving forward, so please be patient. I'm loving acoustics right now and I'm actually thinking what was unthinkable only two years ago - replace my favorite electrics with acoustics!

[Meathead]

Hey TD -Welcome to the forum, great to have you here. No need to apologize for the intro later rather than sooner, just glad you made it! With all those years playing electrics and running a guitar shop, great to have your knowledge. I see you've already got a nice little acoustic collection started ... I also have the E6 OM (non-TC version). Great guitar. I also own a PRS SE, which is an excellent electric for the price.

Curious, since you performed a few setups on Eastman electrics, what is your opinion of the overall quality on the electric side?

[Timelessdrifter]

Thank you for the kind welcome, Tim!

I enjoyed the PRS Parlors. I really did. They have a neck that made it easy for this old electric player to transition into acoustics, workmanship was mostly solid, no glaring defects, and with a quick setup, I was playing the heck out of them. I own a couple of PRS electrics ('09 Ted McCarty SC245 10-top and an '07 McCarty Korina/Braz, both with P90s) and think they're excellent guitars.

I worked on three Eastman electrics. All were 2010-2016s. I'd have to look up the model numbers, but one was a Les Paul style solid body, one was an ES-335 clone and the other a thinline of Eastman's own design. The 335 clone was the most memorable. It was an excellent giuitar. Played great, looked great, fit and finish was excellent, and the sound was as good as any recent ES I'd seen from Gibson. If I was in the market for another electric, I wouldn't hesitate to look at an Eastman.

Oh yeah, my E6OM-TC... Wonderful guitar! Admittedly, I don't have the experience with acoustics that I do with electrics, but l looked at a lot of them after being bitten by the bug, and the Eastman's sounded as good and played as good as any of them. The E6OM-TC is my favorite at the moment. Beautiful guitar, and it plays and sounds heavenly. I have DR Sunbeams (RCA-11) on it right now, but I'll probably try something different next string change. I have a set of Martin Monel 11s sitting here, but I may back up to 12s. Decisions, decisions, LOL!

Thanks again for the kind welcome!

[Sunriseguy]

Hey TD welcome to the forum. I can certainly relate to your fondness of the E6om tc, I've been enjoying the heck out of mine. Not only great tone but the playability is second to none in my estimation. In fact I  like it so much that I've now added another Eastman to my collection. A wonderful E6d tc that like the om is a joy to play. The d has a sitka top as opposed to the alpine on the om which gives it a very pleasing warm tonal character which I  really like, along with the mahogany back and sides. 
 
 Hope you are enjoying this unusually warm MN winter as much as your E6om!

[Timelessdrifter]

Thank you for the warm welcome, Sunriseguy!

Yes, I'm enjoying the heck out of this weather (up until yesterday!). I've been sitting outside and BBQing almost every night.

What can you tell me about the neck on the E6D-TC? I'd like to add a dread to my other Eastmans, but most models I've looked at have a 1 11/16 nut width and 25.4" scale. I could live with the nut width, but I'm not a fan of the longer scale.

A chunky neck with that width would be great, but if it's anything like the E20OOSS I had, it would be too small. That was my first Eastman and I sold it after less than a month to fund my E10OO-TC with the fattest neck I've ever had the pleasure of playing. A 1 13/16" nut width and just shy of 1" deep at the first fret. And talk about LOUD! It's a 12 fret, with the saddle moved back on the body.

Then I bought the E6OM-TC and that's been getting all my love lately because it plays and sounds so sweet :-)

Thanks again for the welcome!

[Sunriseguy]

Hi TD,

The E6,8,10, and 20 series dreads all have a 1.75" nut AFIK. My E6om and E6d have pretty much identical nut widths, string spacing at the nut/saddle and neck profles. The only difference being the longer scale of the dread.

[Timelessdrifter]

Thanks for the info. I can live with a 25.4 scale. I have a few Fender Telecasters, but I'm mostly a Gibson scale guy.

I wish someone around here had a good number of Eastman guitars on hand. Would be a lot easier to find that right guitar without buying three online, LOL.

[TomC]

TLD
I have an E40OM and an E20SSv. You are more than welcome to try either. I am over in St Paul.
Tom

[Sunriseguy]

TD,
If you'd like to give my E6d a whirl I'd be happy to oblige.  I'm in the northeast burbs, Shoreview.

  Ted

[Timelessdrifter]

TLD
I have an E40OM and an E20SSv. You are more than welcome to try either. I am over in St Paul.
Tom

Thank you the very kind offer, Tom! The E40OM probably feels similar to my E6OM-TC as far as the neck goes. Stunningly beautiful guitar though! After I unload some electrics and amps I'm going to get one.

The E20SSv though, sounds interesting. I'm looking for a dread with a 24.75" scale. Do you have any idea what the thickness (front to back) is at the first fret?

Seriously, thank you for the generous offer!

---

TD,
If you'd like to give my E6d a whirl I'd be happy to oblige.  I'm in the northeast burbs, Shoreview.

  Ted

Thank you for the generous offer, Ted! I might take you up on that someday in the not too distant future. Nice price on those.

What a great bunch of folks here! You make a new guy feel right at home :-)