Took my AJ817 to a new luthier for its first setup.
He pointed out something I've never noticed. The nut & saddle are both plastic.
Came home & thought check out the AC615. Looked close it also has a plastic nut & saddle.
My E10SS/V has bone nut & saddle.

I've heard sometimes bone isn't the right choice for certain guitars.
The AJ817 sounds great. The AC615 is the best sounding guitar I've ever owned.

I had an interesting series of events with Blueridge / Saga Instruments.  I decided to make a separate thread, so it doesn't completely derail the other BR thread.

Last Friday, I tried to email Saga Music to ask them about the differences between their "Heritage" series (BR-140A) and "Pre-War" series (BR-240A), aside from the obvious aesthetics.  Specs seemed identical otherwise, so I was curious what drove the $500 difference between these two guitar models.  Their website is terrible and antiquated, and I couldn't submit my message unless I removed all punctuation, including commas, parentheses, etc., so my message looked like a 1800s telegram.

Dear Saga STOP
What is the difference between these two guitars STOP
Why is your website so awful STOP

I was frustrated with the time and effort it took to write a 1st grade looking message, so I decided to search for them on Facebook.  I found Saga Instruments FB page and sent them my query, as well as providing feedback on my website experience.  I received a quick reply from their FB customer service person, and we began an extended discussion.

He said that the price difference was all premium woods and aesthetic appointments (abalone, ebony, etc.).  $500 seemed steep, but considering what Martin charges to jump from a D-28 to a D-42, I was willing to accept it.

My next question was aging toner.  I asked why my guitar had aging toner, when it wasn't listed in the website specs.  He replied that my guitar does NOT have aging toner.  Now, that I found hard to believe b/c my new top is literally gold.

I posted a photo of my daughter's E1OO-LTD, which was a very light top, when purchased new.  This was my second surprise: he said that other guitar makers bleach their tops to make them look lighter.  He proceeded to say that Eastman's "hand-crafted" is pure marketing and that they are really factory built like BR and many other guitars.

So, I posted these two points onto the AGF, knowing that their larger community includes several guitar makers and experienced luthiers, whom I knew would give me the straight story.  The consensus was that my guitar sure looked like aging toner, which has been used by BR for years, and that nobody bleaches Spruce tops.

An highly respected community member reached out to me privately and asked for permission to pass my experience to the owner and founder of Saga / BR, whom he has known for years.  The owner asked for screen shots of my discussion, which I happily provided to him via our intermediary.

This afternoon, I received a reply.  Surprisingly, the top of my BR-240A does NOT have aging toner, as they do not add toner to any Adi tops --- only their Sitka tops.  The yellow color is likely created by the Poly finish, and another AGF member suggested looking at the inside of the top to see what the true Adi top color looks like.

He also agreed that he's never heard of any company bleaching Spruce tops and didn't like that I was told such a thing.  He was also not pleased with a representative of his company speaking negatively about another company, so I expect he'll pass that feedback along to his FB customer service person.

So, in the end, I'm still struggling with the yellow color, but I'm encouraged to know that it's not an aging toner and may change over time.  I'm disappointed about the bleaching nonsense and talking about other brands, but impressed that he gave me correct info about the lack of aging toner on my top, which I found nearly impossible to believe.

But most of all, I'm impressed with the owner taking my concerns personally, albeit with the help of a mutual friend, and providing me with a detailed response to those concerns.  I thought I'd share my story here, since BR seems to be even more of a mystery than Eastman.

BTW, the FB rep also said that they outsource their guitar production to third party factories and provide them with the guitar specs they want to make, so it's a much different business model than Eastman, who owns and controls their own production.  I really like that Eastman controls the end-to-end process: from sourcing to production to distribution.

As a friendly reminder, this is my BR-240A.

Hey! EMS: Don't you think it's time to tell our forum friends about the Gibson remuda you've rounded up at your spread, pardner?! We want pictures!!!

Back and sides....mahogany or rosewood?

Does anyone know when the new Eastmans will hit the dealers?Got my eye on the new ac 422 ce.

I don't recall seeing any posts about this model.  The guitar sounds quite nice based on the YouTube video!  Curious if anyone has seen this model for sale anywhere?  

https://www.eastmanguitars.com/acoustic_more

This year we got special permission to go in early and film all the new models from Eastman. This video was love with multi cameras. We also filled some up close stuff for later. Here's the Eastman live video. https://youtu.be/xGC8VEtmX0c there are lots of other great NAMM videos and products in the page as well. If you have any questions about the new models, it even some of the old ones, let me know. We also went to Pamona on Tues and filled a lot there and saw some other cool products.

John

I have a k&k mini fitted to my bourgeois OM, and have an old Crafter electro-acoustic. I have tried plugging them into my Roland Micro Cube GX but what little sound I can get out of it is truly awful. Can anyone advise me on an acoustic amp, one with minimal effects would be fine. Do I need a preamp or are there acoustic amps with a built in preamp? I am not looking for a gig-quality amp - I was never anywhere good enough to gig - but something for home use and maybe an open mic night at my local folk club (although they do have a PA) which is held in a large upstairs room over a bar. My knowledge of things electric is absolutely negligible.

Here's a picture of my Eastman family, as of right now. From left to right:

Sorry for the poor picture quality.

E1SS-LTD-CLA
E2D Cedar
E40D SB
E10D
AC422CE- SB 

Hey guys,

Helene and I are back from NAMM and as usual Eastman did not disappoint. Besides some sexy new finishes for the PCH, upgraded AC models with armrest no less and the super cool SB55 and SB54, the big news I think is the introduction of the E6 Thermo Cured series. At @1065 Street price these will no doubt fly off the shelves once they get them to dealers. Spent a few minutes with them and while NAMM is not ideal for tonal evaluation I was very impressed.

Happy 2020 folks.