The first one minute of this video explains a 'muddy' tone guitar, (move the slider to zero if it starts elsewhere).   The late Bill Collings always began each build with the most choice wood to be found.  Bruce Van Wart has been the wood selection guy at Collings since their startup, still handles every piece of wood going into their guitars, their wood is always grade AAA.  Not true for most major brands.

Proper stiffness along the grain line and across the grain is the first priority in selection.  A guitar with an extra warm tone does not = 'muddy' is my point.  Solid wood used in Eastman Traditional and AC series have always been of high quality in my experience. This video demonstrates to me why hands-on Eastman and Collings are comparable.... vs CFM, Taylor, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_b6e0AvYjUI&t=72s

I'm thinking about upgrading the tuners on my E10 00. Has anyone done this and if so what tuners have you used or would recommend?

I find the neck width and girth of my T486 to be absolutely perfect. Eastman in its specs never identifies it, what are y’alls best guesses?

I have a number of Eastman's in my "watch list" on Reverb, not that I need another git, I'm just a sale voyeur...  and I'll be damned some that are listed are a VERY reasonable price have had a 15% off sale TWICE and have not sold. I'm stunned.

Is money that tight? Are players expecting even DEEPER discounts? Or is it something else?

I am so on the fence about this...narrowed my choices to either a E20 00 or an E20 OM. So would I be sacrificing much in the way of volume with the 00 or are they close enough for finger picking? Please help with you opinions.
Much thanks!

Does anyone know how to read the year made off an Eastman Serial Number 130520002 ? Would this have been made in 2013?
Thanks for any help...

New Member here, about 4 minutes ago. (in a dilemma, feeling loyal to the great unofficialBlueridgeGuitarForum.) I continue to feed my compulsive hobby of visiting every guitar shop I can find. We went to Nashville last week and I was in heaven. Of course, Gibsons were in all the shops. I went in to 2 of Nashville's Guitar Centers. The most fun shop was Corner Music, just south of downtown Nashville. Lots of Gibsons, lots of Eastmans, Larrivees, Art & Guthrie small guitars, Breedlove, Recording Kings, no Martins, no Taylors. It was fun to finally play small Eastmans, they had an E10P and an E10 00. The 1 13/16" nut width on these was surprisingly comfortable. Outside of the Gibsons, the best 2 guitars in the shop IMO were the Eastman AC320 (I'm a WTB AC322CE) and the Eastman E40D. The E40D is a unique model number for Eastman, a very different, very comfortable neck feel (felt like a Martin neck) and an exceptional, unique voice. Bluegrass folks may not care for the voice. The neck also was gorgeous with beautiful inlays, the voice was intoxicating, smooth, like a sexy blues singer eg Nora Jones, reminded me of a Guild D-55 that infactuated me for months. It's really a good one !!! I can't remember the price, maybe it was $1999, Eastman's site has it at $2500 suggested retail. An interesting decision by Eastman, I predict it will sell, but the price should surely slow it down, considering the names on headstocks one can get for the price. Maybe it sets a record for the highest priced guitar made in China???

So I got my AC822 yesterday and I couldn't be happier! It's both beautiful looking, playing and sounding. It's hard for me to explain, and I do love the way it sounds, but it definitely will lend itself to certain types of styles. It is so much more unforgiving than my Seagull dreadnought. The lightest brush of a string will send a note flying through the air, so I'm going to have to get used to that better.

I recorded a song a few days ago on my Seagull, and the same one quickly again on my AC822 and they sound VASTLY different. I wouldn't say either one is better, but I'd describe the Seagull as being more full and punchy (it is a dread after all), and the Eastman being more airy and ethereal. I'm curious how members here would describe the sound difference. I believe the Seagull was almost due for a new set of strings when I recorded that one though, so take from that what you will.

https://soundcloud.com/ellisnathan/freig...ac822-test
https://soundcloud.com/ellisnathan/freight-train

And for fun, here's another recording of the AC822.

https://soundcloud.com/ellisnathan/in-dreams-ac822-test

So again, how would you describe the difference in sounds? Maybe based on people's responses I can get a better understanding of how tone is described out of context of a sound clip.

Update: Photos!

Hi gang -

Has anyone here ordered a fully customized Eastman?  Is that even possible?  

For example, if I wanted to order an E10-OM, with a slotted headstock and a TC top, could that be ordered as customized?

I thought this might be of use to some people - it's the 2008 catalogue straight from Eastman. It has some info/specs on what they had on offer at the time, including now discontinued models.

https://web.archive.org/web/200901172241...atalog.pdf

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