Eastman Guitars AR605CE

2008 Chinese 100% handmade archtop. 22 frets with solid top, ebony fretboard, maple neck, mahogany sides and solid spruce top. Super sleek volume and tone knobs hidden under the pick guard. This looks better, but is much harder to make fast adjustments. Stock Eastman pickup, which is passive, and a decent pickup. Beautiful sunburst finish with Eastman's special finishing technique. I give it a 10 because it has all the features that I would ever want on a guitar.

I use this and a henriksen convertible. That's it. Obviously for jazz. Not noisy. Very rich sound. Warm and clear. This guitar is a one trick pony, so unless you want to play jazz alone, I would look elsewhere. I like the sound in general, but sometimes the lower strings can sound very dead. it sounds like there is a mute or something on the strings. Acoustically, it sounds great, with a very refined, full sound, albeit quite quiet. When amplified, the lower strings feedback like crazy. This guitar is a feedback beast, let no one tell you otherwise. Plug the f-holes and turn the bass way down. This guitar is a delicate thing, much more suited for chord melodies and solo stuff than for a louder band. I have played with 7+ piece bands before, but the dynamic sound is killed due to the volume, and feedback. I give it a 8 because I love playing solo guitar, and for this style this guitar has the tone to back it up. Only an 8 because the dynamic range is not as great as I would like, and the lower strings can sound pretty dead sometimes.

All great. All very professional. You can see some not so perfectly cut bindings and such, but that is to be expected when a person is cutting them and not a machine. You can set this bad-boy up as low as you want. A few buzzing frets deterred me from doing this, but you can file them down if you want. This guitar plays nicely. 7 because of some uneven frets, and with the slightest change in humidity, the top sinks or raises so much you can barley play it!

I use it live, but I would not if I were you, as this guitar is very, very fragile and should probably stay at home as your leisure guitar. The finish is very delicate, and it has a thin top, which is prone to being crushed in. It does not even have a strap button on the front, which would indicate you should not bring it to the gig, but I installed one anyways. I can depend on it, but I do not recommend it. 5 because if I have to think about not dinging it while putting it on the stand, it is not durable enough. Also, as I stated in the action section, the humidity issue is another good reason to leave this thing at home!

No comment.

I've been playing almost half my life, and I know quality when I see it. Overall, this guitar is of good quality and of tremendous value. It was so cheap, I can not believe it! There are better guitars out there no doubt, but in this price range, the Eastman is hard to beat. It also comes with a very nice case, in case you were wondering.