Eastman Guitars AR805CE

One of the most beautiful instruments ever to hit the market; very light, very resonant; finish looks like a violin...concerns me a bit in terms of durability, so I'm extra careful; comfortable to play, particularly fingerstyle (1 7/8" nut width, 25" scale -- hard to find many alternatives with these specs). Case is a little weird...looks like a cello case that shrunk in the dryer, but does the job well.

I play it through Polytones...a 12" and a 15". As others have mentioned, the sound is unique. You can tweak the amp and get some variety but, more than anything, the Eastman seems to want to sound like an acoustic with flatwound strings. It's a bit trebly, but if you choke back the tone it can get boomy. You'll have a hard time trying to get it to sound like an es-175, or a GB10, or an L5, or some of the other popular jazz boxes...it is what it is. That being said, it has a very well balanced sound that works well on chord melody stuff. It's pretty versatile and can sound good in places a traditional jazz box doesn't want to take you, like maybe a fingerstyle rag.

Absolutely beautiful wood, nicely matched. No noticeable finish flaws. One place where binding is not perfectly flush, but overall the fit and finish are very good. There hasn't been a guitar made that I don't want to re-adjust, but the Eastman was at a pretty good starting point.

I think the Eastman is going to continue to be very reliable. I'm not concerned about having a backup, though I rarely venture out to a gig without a second guitar. As mentioned before, I am a little concerned about the durability of the finish, so I wouldn't take it to a bar. I'll play restaurants, receptions, stage performances with it, though.

I've had no problems, so no experience with customer service.

Been playing a long, long time. I've meandered through a variety of styles and have owned everything from strats and Les Pauls to classicals and steel string acoustics. I've bought and sold some really nice gear over the years, so I'm accustomed to playing good instruments, and I enjoy the Eastman. It's kind of unique, and I consider it a very good value. This Eastman really is a nice guitar. I don't love it, but I like it a lot. I'll keep it and play it often. Budget permitting, I'd replace it if it was gone.

Features? It's A GUITAR. A neck, a body, etc..

This is a good sounding guitar. Gets feedback-y when amplified, especially around F#-G country. Not very forgiving for sloppy fretwork at all. I find I need to get right up behind the frets to keep the axe from being buzzy. Also, this guitar doesn't seem to like to be pushed very hard. If I ease back on my attack, it sounds very nice. Bright, yet balanced. Honestly, it sounds better as an acoustic then an electric.

I should say something about the pickup. It's GREAT for boosting the bottom 2 strings but it does not amplify the treble strings nearly as loud, which is idiotic, as it's usually the high frequencies that drop off the fastest in volume the farther away from the guitar the listener gets. I really don't like this pickup. I've relegated this axe to my acoustic practice box.

Hoo boy. Problems.
First of all, Full disclosure: When I first laid eyes on this thing, I was in such shock that a new, carved top arch top was hanging on the wall at my local guitar shop for what seemed like a ridiculous price that I kind of overlooked some of the flaws. There are a few obvious ones. The worst offender being a big spot right in the middle of the fretboard at the 7th fret covering the middle 2 strings and extending out in a loose fried egg pattern for a fret in either direction. It seems to be cosmetic however, as the neck actually is aligned pretty well and seems to be mostly set right.

The pickguard binding has started to delaminate right where I pick, and it's seriously a very lousy glue job. Also, the pickguard is VERY noisy, and it's pretty much a deal breaker if I were to try to sell this. The bridge also has come unglued and now every time I remove the strings for a cleaning, I have to reset the bridge position to be in tune. Not really a huge deal, but still kind of a pain in the ass.
Also, the pick guard is VERY close to being in the picking plane with the high E string. VERY inconvenient. I've owned a grip of other archtops, and even the crappy laminate jobs didn't have this issue. Serious lack of foresight on the assembler's part.

The tuners on my Eastman are complete pieces of crap. The G-string tuner doesn't even engage after almost a 1/4 turn! Unacceptable. I see now that they come with Gotohs. Good call on Eastman's part. They probably should've though of that BEFORE they sold the first few hundred with tuners that suck.
There are some other minor aesthetic flaws, and overall, I think for most people, once they start approaching the 2500 dollar mark for an instrument, that's getting close to a financial ceiling for a lot of working guitar players, and I for one am very disappointed that I'm having these idiotic issues that would never have happened in the first place if Eastman had just sucked it up and pulled a few of the early models off the line instead of releasing them for sale to the general public.

I cannot use this guitar for gigs. It feeds back too easily, the piece of S*&T factory tuners are completely unreliable, and this axe is too buzzy. I've used it on gigs, and it's like babysitting. I feel like Eastman should be giving me 50 cents an hour and 2 popsicles from the fridge for taking care of it. I do like the acoustic sound of this guitar, and it's my main practice rig, but damn if it isn't frustrating as hell. I have sincere doubts as to whether this thing is just going to literally come unglued one day, like that carbon fiber bike clip on youtube. I feel like ripping the damn pick guard off and just using it as an acoustic, because it's not a great electric.

At this point unless Eastman wants to give me a new guitar, which I very much doubt they would do, I have absolutely no opinion on customer service. Considering how they cut some really cheap corners on the build, I haven't exactly been feeling like listening to some duochebag explain himself on something that's pretty much indefensible. Reminds me of my experience with Taylor guitars.

I'm not so sure about Eastman, Great idea, but my axe is a "special" child. I really do like how it sounds acoustically, so it's not all bad. It's a nice sounding guitar, it's just everything else that's a problem. Kinda like going out on a date with a very beautiful but dumb girl. Once the glow wears off, it's the conversation that's going to be missed. I can get away with using this as an acoustic, so it's not a total loss. Next time I buy an archtop I'm not even LOOKING at An Eastman. Overall, I can't exactly say I feel like I got ripped off, but at the same time I expect more out of a guitar that I paid this much for. The delaminating pickguard is just non-existent QC, and it seems like they've at least addressed the tuner issues by actually spec'ing it out with REAL machines instead of some crap knockoffs. I will NEVER buy another Eastman. Buyer Beware. You really do get what you pay for, and sometimes you get more than what you paid for.

The AR805 is the 16 inch body f-hole archtop with a 25 inch scale length. My Eastman AR805-CE was built in 2007, and has a sunburst finish. It has Gotoh tuners with ebony buttons, ebony board with bone nut, a very close-grained spruce top (which is perfectly quarter-sawn), maple rims with some nice flame, a beautifully flamed maple back, what looks like a rosewood pickguard with volume and tone controls, and the ebony/brass tailpiece. The pickup is the single floating mini-humbucker. It came with the usual Eastman glossy black case. I bought the guitar new at a local music store just three weeks ago, and it had obviously been sitting around the shop for some time as it was very dusty. I'm giving the Eastman a 9 in this category, as it has absolutely all the features you want in this type of guitar, but with a mark knocked off for the case (see below).

I bought this guitar primarily to play it acoustically, and it won't be plugged in very often. I have an Ibanez GB-10 for plugging-in and playing out. I was looking for a nice acoustic archtop just to enjoy playing at home or in intimate situations with a few friends, for vocal accompaniment and playing mostly rhythm guitar. To put this in context - I have been playing guitar now for over 40 years, mostly mainstream jazz / standards / and jazz-influenced blues. In that time I have owned around 15 archtop guitars, including a Gibson 175 and a 1947 Gibson L5, a Guild Artist Award, a Knight Imperial, a 1939 Epiphone Emperor, and the Ibanez GB-10. So I know what to expect and what I want from an acoustic archtop. An acoustic archtop guitar is not meant to sound like a flat-top. Flat-tops and archtops have different sonic signatures and occupy quite different spaces in the ensemble, however archtops should not sound harsh or thin, as so many do. Sadly, the art of carving fine acoustic archtops was largely lost after makers started fitting pickups to their instruments and the electric sound became more important. For fine-sounding acoustic instruments we had in recent years either to buy a boutique Benedetto, D'Aquisto or Monteleone or go vintage (both expensive options). As with any solid-wood, handmade guitar, you should never buy one sight unseen. There were two Eastman AR805s in the shop - mine, and a blonde one. They sounded very different. My sunburst was more punchy, and brighter than the blonde. After setting the guitar up (see below) and playing it in for a few weeks, the Eastman is sounding very good indeed. It is harmonically rich, articulates very well, is in tune all over the neck, and responds well to the right-hand touch. One of the key factors in my type of playing is how well you can hear the inner movement in close-voiced chords (usually a voicing carried on the third string). The Eastman is very good at this. In fact, the Eastman has the best acoustic sound of any archtop I have owned in the past other than my 1939 Emperor. Now, the Emperor is a huge 18 inch jazz box and has the benefit of being 70 years old, so fair enough. It was also a lot more expensive than the Eastman. As far as the electric sound goes, plugged into my little Fender amp the Eastman sounds wonderful. In fact, just as good as my GB-10 on the neck pickup. So the AR805 gets a 10 in this category.

Here we get to the tricky part. I had read all the reviews on Harmony Central and comments elsewhere about Eastmans before I went to look at the guitars, so I already knew there had been some quality control issues in the past. And in coming to a verdict, we also have to bear the price (new) very much in mind. For comparison, I would expect to have to pay at least 5,000 to 7,000 GBP for an instrument of this specification from any other maker. So walking out of the shop with this gorgeous guitar for 1,000 GBP made me feel like I had died and gone to (guitar) heaven. So, the good news first. The fit and finish of the guitar is basically first-class. The joinery is excellent, the woods used are very fine, the neck-set is spot-on. The finish is a beautiful dark sunburst, in a very thinly applied nitro which allows the guitar to speak. There are no finish flaws, overspray or spots. The ivoroid binding and black purfling is good, though if you are very picky not quite in the Ibanez class. The inside of the guitar is as well-finished as the outside, with the X-bracing and kerfing all perfectly set and with no glue drips or runs. The fretwork on mine was immaculate - no sharp ends, perfectly levelled and on a very comfortable traditional C-shaped neck profile. I am hoping that as the guitar was already two years old when I bought it, it will already have settled to the UK climate and shouldn't move around much with the seasons. The fittings are mostly high-quality. The Gotoh tuners are smooth, the bridge is superbly finished and solid ebony, and the tailpiece is OK if not the greatest. The combined strap button and jack socket is nicely done. On mine I checked all the screws for tightness before I strung-up, and found one loose tuner screw. Now, I am fortunate in that I have the tools and expertise to do all my own setup work on guitars, so I did not have to ask the shop for anything. The guitar came strung with nickel-wound 11s. I have to use very light strings (due to tendinitis problems), so I proceeded to set the guitar up to suit my style. The nut was cut very high, so I re-cut the string slots which was easily done and then strung-up with very light bronze wounds. I had to adjust the truss-rod a little, but found that once all this was done and the bridge adjusted for intonation that I could get the action on the first string down to 1.2mm with just a touch of relief which is quite amazing. Now it plays like silk, stays in tune better than the Ibanez and intonates perfectly. However, none of this to say that the guitar was badly set-up from the factory - for a player with a more vigorous attack than me it would probably have been fine from the shop. Now for the bad news. The electrics were a mess, with a horrible hum from poor shielding which got worse whenever the volume and tone controls were touched. I took the whole pickguard / pickup assembly off and basically re-wired it from scratch. Eastman had managed to wire the pickup hot side to ground, which took me ages to figure out because I just wasn't looking for something that simple. Anyhow, I junked the tone control, copper shielded the underside of the pickguard, put in a decent 500k volume pot and used OFC cable throughout. Now the electrics are super quiet, and the pickup sounds wonderful. Dear Mr Eastman, inexpensive guitar or not, the owner really shouldn't have to do this. The other deficiency I have to mention is the case. As others have noted, it is flimsy and on my sample needed at least one more latch than it had because it gapped around the lower bout and would certainly not be rain or gig-proof. I went out the next day and bought a decent hard-shell case, because the guitar deserves better. So in this category I am afraid that the score is an 8 - marked down for the electrics and the case.

Having only had the guitar for three weeks, durability in the long term is hard to assess. In any case, this is not the sort of guitar you are going to take out on a rough bar-room gig seven nights a week. It's not a Tele. I personally have no intention of using it for hard professional work, but I am sure that it would be absolutely reliable within the usual jazz context - studio, orchestral, and small-group work. These kinds of players tend to take good care of their instruments, and the Eastman should be just fine. So we'll give it a 9.

I have had no need so far to deal with Eastman Strings (although perhaps I should have, regarding the electrics).

I bought the Eastman because I had always wanted a 16 inch X-braced archtop with a (relatively) short-scale. Regardless of price, there are not too many of those to choose from in a solid-wood, carved instrument. The nearest thing (although larger) would be a Gibson Johnny Smith. For playing through an amp, I have always favoured the mini-humbuckers for my style (which is basically a pretty bright sound, as near to the acoustic tone as I can get it). So the Eastman ticked all the boxes for me. I think that you have to regard Eastmans as very akin to buying a vintage archtop - you have to play a few of them to find the right one, and when you do find one you will have to be prepared to put some work into it on setup. None of that bothers me too much, though it might bother you. But don't think that spending a lot more money necessarily guarantees a trouble-free experience, either. I had a brand-new 5,000 GBP Artist Award and the binding started falling off after a couple of months. And Gibson's QC has been pretty patchy at times in recent years, too. The Eastman AR805CE is a great-playing, nice-looking, gorgeous sounding archtop guitar. All credit to the workforce in the Beijing factory. It gets a 10 in this category for fantastic value.

This 15 inch small body, single pickup guitar was bought used and built in 2006. Nice solid maple back and sides, solid spruce top with ebony fingeroard is all a jazz player needs. The fiberglass case is fairly solid but does not support the heel of the guitar properly.

The guitar sounds warm and full. this is clearly the strength of the instrument. I play through an acoustic image head and an EV 12L.

Here is the big problem. The finish is great. But, every neck by Eastman I have played, including this one has a badly warped neck or horrible fretwork. This one did not play close to as well as a cheap ibanez.

The case must be amended to support the heel and base of the neck properly for transport. I would not play this guitar at any time. It will cost nearly 400 dollars to repair.

I bought this used, so this category is mute.

I would never buy an Eastman again.

same as the others listed with the exception of the cheap and crappy volume and tone controls were moved from the pick guard (junk) and exchanged for "real controls" and mounted below the F hole...

beautiful woods, beautiful guitar...

great tone and before purchasing the guitar I did some online reasearch and saw a lot of dicussion between an ES 175 and an Eastman... I own an ES 165 (same as a 175 with only 1 pick-up, Herb Ellis they called it, one with the volume and tone controls) and the 165 has a much ballsier tone... probably the difference between a floating pick up and the mounted humbucker on the 165...I think I have to say the lower tones are fuller/cleaner on my 165...the Eastman does have a nice tone though as well...just different...kind of reminds me of a violin being so light and almost has a violin sound...

the guy I bought this guitar from set it up beautifully, not sure how they come new but it plays like a dream...

I notice a lot of checking on the back, which is usually from weather changes...seems a bit strange on a guitar only a few years old... the attention to detail on the workmenship is great... wonder how the chinese wood/finish will hold up... hope they didn't use malamene...

no idea...

I have been playing a long time (one of the questions) currently play in a garage jazz band... most of my guitars are Gibsons, old 125, old 335, 165, a Guild Rockabilly, a Gretch, epiphone Joe Pass... all hollowbodies... Taylor acoustic... this one fits into the family well... feeds back like a mother though and have to tape the f holes...

This has a single volume control. I thought I might miss the absence of a tone control, but I don't. I control the tone through the settings on my amplifier (Fender Deluxe Reverb Reissue), and it sounds great.

As others have commented, this guitar sounds wonderful unplugged. One way to think of this guitar is that it is essentially an acoustic guitar with a floating pickup added. If it didn't sound good acoustically, that would concern me. Plugged in, it simply amplifies that sweet, wonderful sound you hear acoustically. Overall the guitar delivers a bright, singing tone, reminiscent of Charlie Christian and Grant Green. Bright and thick at the same time, if that makes any sense. And without the noise that a P-90 or Charlie Christian-type pickup would have.

Although I'm playing it through a Deluxe Reverb, the guy at the store I bought it from suggested trying it through an acoustic amp, which I did. That also sounds excellent. An acoustic amp captures more "pop" in the bass strings.

Like others, I have not been able to put this guitar down since purchasing it yesterday. This is simply the best quality guitar (for the money) that I've ever owned.

Mine is the sunburst finish with black pickup. I do not see any superficial flaws. The neck feels great. When I played it at the store, a couple of the frets buzzed on the high E above the 12th fret, but this was easily fixed in the store by the technicians, who set it up for me. Others have commented that quality with these guitars is very instrument-specific. That may be, but that just means you need to buy it from a store that exercises good quality control. The store where I bought it is known to send instruments back that do not meet their specifications. Even at this price, a guitar like this is a significant investment. Buy only from people you trust.

I only just got it, so it's difficult to say how it will hold up, but it seems so well constructed that I can't see it falling apart.

Have not dealt yet with the Company. The guitar comes with a limited lifetime warranty.

I love this guitar. I've been playing off and on for 25 years. Increasingly, I've become interested in jazz, which is the reason I purchased this guitar. I'm a huge Grant Green and Charlie Christian fan and I wanted something that could deliver along those lines. It is an unforgiving guitar in the sense that you hear every mistake you make, but on the flip side, it will unquestionably make you a better player.

As others have noted, there are some feedback issues. I haven't quite figured that out yet. It only seems to happen when I push the Deluxe Reverb above 2.5 on the volume knob. But really it doesn't need to go any louder than that, at least not for playing solo. It is considerably louder at that volume than my telecaster, which I imagine is due to the size of the body. I'm told that you can get F-hole inserts that will control feeback but haven't looked into that yet. An acoustic amp would, I imagine, pose less of a feedback problem. But feedback is, in my view, a side issue and something you'd face with any archtop.

Standard archtop features. Had to add a strap pin at the base of the neck. Have a pro do that as you don't want to split the binding. Single Armstrong floater, Juhao(sp?) tuners, ebony bridge and tailpiece.

Wonderful sound. I play it acoustically to practice and to jam with friends. Very sweet, responsive tone. I play chord/melody and straight ahead jazz with it. Would call it a sweet medlodic guitar versus an aggressive guitar.

Fantastic guitar. Came from the store with round-wounds so I put so flats on it. Fit and Finish are great. Going to have my local guy to a professional setup on it although it came from the store in great setup shape. I had to add a strap pin at the base of the neck joint. Have a pro do that so you don't crack the binding. Mine is a factory finish second so I have a slight line crack in the headstock laminate and a couple of slight varnish dots. Doesn't matter to me though since I got a discounted price and it doesn't affect the beauty or sound of the guitar.

Seems to be a well built sturdy guitar. No issues.

No issues yet.

Have been playing on and off for 25 years. Jazz, blues, and rock. Own a Gibson ES-335 ('79 dot neck reissue), an Alvarez acoustic, a 40th Anniv Strat, and an assortment of others. This is now my jazz guitar supplanting the 335 and a Epi Regent (great guitar for the $$ but this is a definate step up). Played a ton of guitars before buying including a mid-50's 175D. This plays with the best of them (it supplanted my 335!). Unless you spend the big bucks on a custom guitar (Buscarino or Campollone, etc.) I think you'll find that this guitar is 95% of what they are.

See other posts and the Eastman website for more. Mine's a 2005, solid top, 16" body (17" is too big/uncomfortable for me), floating Kent Armstrong pickup, volume knob, no tone knob. Mine is the classic finish like you see on violins and such, it's gorgious.

This is an archtop jazz guitar...obviously, so I use it for jazz.
For amps, Ive been using it with a Fender Jazzmaster Ultralight gigging and a Tech 21 Trademark 10 for practice.
It has a full tone as you would expect from a solid top guitar. I have flatwound strings on it, which help me get a slightly darker, more traditional jazz tone as opposed to roundwound strings. There isn't a lot of variety tonewise, it is what it is and in fact there isn't a tone knob. But the tone is so pure and beautiful, you don't need one. Because of its solid stop and the picking being a floater, it also gets a good unamplified acoustic tone. It sounds good acoustic and electric. I love the tone of this thing. The only thing I don't like is at louder amplified volume levels, you have to deal with feedback. This is not unique to this guitar, you have to deal with feedback on all solid top archtops. If you're doing traditional jazz, you shouldn't have problems, but forget blues, fusion or anything else that requires louder volume to get over louder drums and other instruments.

I bought mine secondhand, but have no complaints. The guitar is beautful, just beautiful wood in every spot. It's a looker and a player. I set it up myself with D'Addario flatwound 12s. I thought it might be tough to setup, but I didn't have to do anything more than put them on as the previous owner must have used similar guage strings.

It is worthy of being a gigging jazz guitar. But as an archtop, you obviously have to take care with it. You want to store it in proper humidity levels in the case and such as you would any solid top archtop. I've had to problems with it.

I haven't had to deal with Eastman, but their forums from their website seem like a good area to get help when needed

I've been playing since 1994 or so. This is the archtop I wanted and am super happy with it. I've had it now for about 5 months, so the honeymoon is over and yet I still love it. But you should realize what it is...anotherwords don't get one of this and expect it to be versatile enough for loud playing situations like blues and stuff. I love it enough where I now want an Eastman El Rey to compliment it for louder playing situations. Oh, and for the price, it's a fantastic value.

2005 Model, dark violin finish, 16" Solid spruce top, floating Kent Armstrong (thin model), hidden pickguard monted volume control(nice), solid maple sides and back(2 piece), 3 piece maple neck, 25" scale, Grover Imperial copy tuners, plastic molded case(not very nice). I just changed the tuners to Gotoh Delta 510`s(21 to 1 ratio).

This guitar sounds great, loud and punchy acoustically. I ended up upgrading pickups to a 12 polepiece Kent Armstrong (U.S.A.) pickup so I could use phosphore bronze strings(John Pierce 12-53 guage)I feel these strings really make a big differance in the sound of the guitar.You can play this guitar pretty loudly before it feedsback. Think George Benson tone.

I tried probably 6 different Eastmans, all were very nice and a little different. I chose this one because it had a little lager neck profile(depth wise). I believe they are all 1/3/4" width at nut. Really didn`t have to adjust it very much at all. I like a little backbow in the action.

Even though it is an archtop guitar, it`s really solid and is really ligfhtweight. I don`t think it`s like a Fender where you could use instead of a baseball bat, but you won`t need a backup.

From what I can tell so far they`re very resonsive to their customers.

I`ve been playing foproffesionally over 30 yrs.Own several Custom Shop Gibsons(Johnny A., Pat Martino, Firebird Non Reverse)Parker Fly, Larrivee` cutaway acoustic.This guiar definetly rates with the best out there. I say that after trying several high end archtops(Ted Megas, and Mark Campellone)I`m sure you might be able to get 5 or 10% better guitar from one of these makers. But it woud cost at least 5 X`s more $.

2004 Eastman AR805CE archtop guitar. Well described in other posts, so no need to repeat here. As one writer said, how many features do you need on an archtop? It's got 'em. Hand carved, solid top, meticulously built. Mine is in classic violin finish, with an awesome matched flame in the back. Its picture is posted on the 12th Fret website at:
http://www.12fret.com/new/eastman_AR805CE_factory_second_pg.html

In writing about these guitars, you have to talk about both the acoustic and the electric sound. They are obviously put to a wide variety of uses, judging from other posts on this guitar and Eastmans in general. First, the electric. The floating pickup (a Kent Armstrong design with "Eastman" on the face) is visually unobtrusive. With electric strings, it produces a nice and somewhat woody jazz tone, through my Peavey Classic 30. I haven't had the opportunity to try it with other amps - some people rave about how they sound with Polytone or Ultrasound, but I can't vouch for that. The E models ship with D'Addario XL 12s, although I asked 12th Fret to replace these with 13s before sending it to me.
Recently, Harland Suttis, a world-class guitar technician and archtop fanatic, talked me into putting bronze strings on it, which I had been reluctant to do since they presumably do not sound balanced through a magnetic pickup. I discovered two things: one, they do indeed not sound balanced through the pickup, although the imbalance is not as bad as I was led to believe; two, and more importantly, the guitar came alive acoustically. The bronze strings really drive the top, and the Eastman just barks. The harder you hit it, the more it responds. I don't think I'm ever going back to steel strings.
Some people have tried GHS White Bronze or DR Zebras, which are magnetically active. I haven't as yet, but from what I understand, they are essentially a compromise. They give better acoustic response than regular steel, not as good as bronze. You have to decide how you want to play the guitar and base your string choice on that.
If you want to see what it can do acoustically, put on a good set of 80/20 bronze strings, the heaviest gauge you can stand (at least 13s), use a really stiff pick, and beat the crap out of it. Play it for at least 20-30 minutes to warm it up. You will be amazed. It can take heavy strings and it can take a lot of pounding (not abuse, just good hard chops). It is an awesome acoustic rhythm instrument.
It also sounds wonderful on acoustic lead. A good strong attack will bring out the best in it.
I'm still looking for a solution to the bronze string / pickup issue. There are a number of floating pickups on the market with adjustable polepieces, and Gordon Roberts of Eastman has stated that they are considering to switching over to an adjustable pickup in 2006. In the meantime, I am trying a Pickup the World archtop pickup as another possible solution. So far, it sounds good, not the same sound you would get through a mike, but I like it better than the floater. If you decide to mike the guitar, you have to be careful about mike placement and watch out for boominess and feedback (which can also be a problem with the PUTW pickup). Hey, if you don't want to have to worry about feedback, get a laminated guitar, not one with a carved top.

Action is highly adjustable through the truss rod and the floating bridge. The setup was good as received, although I have had some further setup work done by Harland Suttis here locally. A higher action will of course bring out the acoustic sound.
The antique violin finish is gorgeous, so much so that my wife even lets me keep the guitar in the living room on a stand, she likes it that much. It will suffer dents and scratches with use. That's the price you pay for a thin finish that won't interfere with the vibration of the wood.
The back on mine is beautifully bookmatched. I have seen others online that don't look as nice as this one.
I have only run across two flaws, both minor. There is a bit of checking in the headstock, the result of a bit too much water content in the glue. It is nearly invisible, and you have to look at it at the right angle in strong light to see it. I can't complain - this caused it to be declared a factory second, and the price wsa reduced as a result.
The other probem that has surfaced is a bit of shrinkage in the pickguard, causing the binding to pull away in a couple of spots. Because I live far away from the dealer, they authorized me to get it repaired locally and reimbursed me for the cost. A few other Eastman owners have encountered this recently.
Other than those things, fit and finish are superb. This guitar is obviously the work of real craftsmen.

I've only had it for six months, but it seems durable, with some caveats. The finish was commented on earlier. Can;t be helped. I'd rather have the thin finish that gets some scratches than the half-inch of varnish you get on some guitars.
I don't think you can abuse this guitar. It is a piece of carved wood, after all. Take care of it and it should last a lifetime.
Since I plan to play it mostly acoustically, I can't imagine why I would need a backup, unless someone put his foot through it (which would probably be the last thing he ever did).

So far, so good. 12th Fret was very responsive to my problem with the pickguard. Also, there are two very active forums for Eastman owners, which are monitored by Gordon Roberts, their head marketing guy. He readily responds to questions or problems.

For my purposes, this guitar is as close to my dream instrument as I am likely to get. It is an amazing guitar at any price, but for $2000, it's unbelievable. I woud definitely replace it with another if anything happened to it. I have been looking for years for a pre-1950 Epiphone Triumph but couldn't find one in good condition I could afford. I may still buy one someday, but I don't need one anymore for playing purposes - the Eastman does the job.
I play in a big band, and have recently been playing it acoustically, after switching to bronze strings. It is turning heads. None of the band members have ever heard anything like it - they are used to electric. It is incredibly loud, with a ferocious midrange bark that is well suited to big band rhythm. I also play in a smaller group, and have to back off somewhat because it is so loud. The piano player told me to "be careful about opening that thing up!"
I'm not entirely sure I would buy an E model again, unless they do come out with a pickup that works well with bronze strings. Also, some people will tell you that a non-cut will be acoustically louder than a cut, others will say it just ain't so. I don't do a lot of work that high on the neck, but it's nice to have the option. This thing is so loud now that I can't imagine why I would need more volume anyway.