I got to play my new T486BK at practice yesterday. To catch you up I had treble bleed circuits installed on the volume pots and push/push on the treble pots for coil splitting. This guitar has the SD Jazz in the neck and the SD '59 in the bridge. It had a pro-set-up done with 9-46 NYXL's and I played it through my Fender Vibroverb RI. They made this amp for a couple of years in the late '80s - 40 watts 2x10. I recently upgraded the speakers to the Jensen P10r F and I can't say enough about these speakers. They were made specifically for Fender and they are worth the premium price.

All I can say is this is a great sounding guitar. The '59 isn't ice-picky and has a lot of great usable tone. The Jazz is smooth and midrangy and together they sound great. I wasn't sure how they would split but they give an approximate single coil sound, especially together. There is a volume drop but that's what boost pedals are for. A really nice vibe is the Jazz split together with the '59 humbucker. It fattens it up just enough.

I'm going to try and record some of this and if it comes out decently I'll post it. I'm a visual guy and audio isn't my wheelhouse.

Thanks.

So, I have a mahogany OM but.. I was thinking about getting a rosewood OM for the "pretty playing", so to speak. Of course the E20-OM is what I was thinking of, but Google taught me there's an interesting thing: the OM20 cutaway. Eastman probably didn't make that many of them but they're out there. While mulling this over I realised I have -over the years- talked about cutaways with people and the immediate response is "Well you lose sound". It comes out so knee-jerk that I wonder how much of it is true. Yeah, no doubt you technically sonically lose some output and maybe there's a different colour to the sound, but the impression I get from the way it's said is that it's mostly meant as a negative. Like they somehow are a *lesser* version of their non-cutaway family. I don't have stores near here that make it possible to compare them side by side, and so I came to our little hangout to see if anyone here has an opinion on cutaway versus non-cutaway.

I personally think that there can be big differences in sound from guitar to guitar, even in the same type. A cutaway might make your sound maybe a little less full, but:
1) you're not a playing a non-cutaway at the same time and thus don't really notice,
2) it offers you access to higher frets and while you might not really use that in everything you play it's still nice to be able to have the option,
3) I think different woods make a much bigger difference than cutaway versus non-cutaway.

Maybe a little high but if the condition is as stated and includes freight, not too bad

https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/foru...p?t=522292

Usual caveats - no personal knowledge of guitar or seller.

The little plastic switch tip on my SB 59 stripped, then flew away. I’d like to replace it with a metal tip, but I have no idea what to order or from where. Any ideas?

Just picked up my new T486-BK from the folks at Midwood Guitar Studio. Craig Landau did the set up and added treble bleed circuits to the volume pots and push/push treble pots for splitting coils. I’ll take some better pics when I get her home to the studio. Can’t wait to hear how it sounds but it really plays sweetly.

Hi all -

One year ago today, EGF was launched.  What started initially as an experiment has grown into an active community of Eastman fans.  We now have 265 users and continue to add to the forum weekly.  I've really enjoyed watching the forum take flight.

It's been great having a place for us Eastman fans to gather and discuss guitars, and it's also been enjoyable getting to know many forum members here.  Big thanks to all the EGF users for the discussion and contribution, and look forward to continuing our discussions into the future!

-Tim

Hi all,

I'm new here but I do qualify.  After having exhausted myself reading up on Eastman semis, I decided on the T59v amber but when I got to the store, they had just sold it. :-(

With another T59v being many weeks away, my gaze turned to a red T386 hanging up. Having it my hands for 45 mins, I could not leave the store without it.

NGD !  I played this guitar through various amps at home and, whereas it played beautifully and sounded great acoustically, I just could not bond with the Kent Armstrong pickups
which I found to be wooly in the neck and harsh in the bridge.

With 4 hours to spare and spurred on by the promise of better sounds amplified, I pulled out the existing humbuckers and replaced them with a set of Japanese Tom Holmes J450 /J455
pickups which I had in stock. I replaced the bridge pickup ring also with a DiMarzio tall ring and with black screws all round. The great thing is that the T386 has CTS pots as stock.

As the Holmes covers were nickel and the remaining hardware is chrome, I changed out the bridge to a Faber ABRM and also the stoptail with a Faber 59 stoptail with nickel locking steel studs.

I was unimpressed by the pick guard gaps around the pickup rings so I decided on a closer fitting Gibson long guard with the 60 degree bevel. All the replacement parts I used were in my parts drawer

Call me pedantic but the upgrades really please both my ears and my eyes.

What a wonderful guitar. If I had paid twice the money I did, I would still be delighted

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I played one of these long ago and remembered how much I liked Taylor cedar, but not Taylor so much.  This unblemished mahog/cedar 2007 GA5 came up for sale in recent times near me... brought it home below market value.  No cutaway, no elecs, no Taylor pickguard... most non-Taylor, Taylor I've ever put my hands on.  (Pickguard from LMII)

I spotted a birch wood back and sides guitar on ebay - I was intrigued. Do any of you guitar historians know whether it has ever been much used as a tone wood?

"I love this guitar". How many times have we all said that? I know I have waay too often only to sell or trade it away. Most of the time just for something new. Well...if I get rid of this guitar below I am just a plain ole idiot then. This one has a nice thicker neck profile then most T386 models I have recently owned and played. It has an ebony fret board too. Not sure how that happened but I'll take it. Put 11's on the guitar and didn't have to adjust the neck or the intonation. Absolute perfection with no tweaking required. Except for raising the action to taste. Swapped the pickups to Antiquities and is exceptional on every level. Yes I will say it again.....I LOVE THIS GUITAR!