Eastman Guitars El Rey ER2

The finish is the classic finish. Body style is unique and 14" wide. It has a tunematic type bridge and metal tailpiece cover with ebony. Tuners work fine. Scale length is 25" with22 frets. 1 3/4 width at the nut. It has a solid carved spruce top with flamed maple back and sides. It has 2 Kent Armstrong 12 pole pickups and selector switch. When the selector switch is in the middle, the volume controls aren't independent. The volume controls act more like balance controls between the pickups rather than separate volume controls. The case comes with two back straps for hands free transporting. There's no compartment in the case for a cord or strings but a small velcro pouch.

I restrung this guitar with flatwounds. The amplified sound has a great jazz tone. I've used it with a Clarus/RE12ER, Fenter Twin, Evans JE200 and Polytone Teeny Brute. It has a nice warm and clear tone. Surprisingly the acoustic sound is better than anyone would expect from a thinline guitar without f-holes. Strung with roundwounds, the guitar is versatile still having a nice jazz tone and 335 type sounds. Can be used for a variety of styles from funk, rock and jazz. Since I play mainly jazz, I've stuck with flatwounds. Very even sound from top to bottom, up and down the neck. The neck is exactly the same as the top of the line Pisano models. The guitar meets the demands of higher volume levels without any feedback problems. I've received lots of compliments on the sound of this guitar.

The setup and action was very low. I raised it slightly so I can dig in more. The tuneomatic bridge is easily accessible for adjustment. It has very nice woods with lots of flame. The were a couple of minor cosmetic flaws in the laquer and one in the bindings. That was not really a big issue with me. I was willing to overlook these flaws because the sound, the vibe and the feel was too good to pass up. Nice gold hardware and nice sounding Kent Armstrong pickups. The bridge pickup was had noticeably less output than the neck pickup. I mainly use the neck pickup only so that wasn't a big deal for me. The guitar also plays like butter.

My first thought about this guitar was the design of a hollowbody without a centerblock being able to withstand live playing volumes without feedback. This guitar doesn't have feedback problems at all. I can play as loud as I want, be on top of the amp, near a loud bass player or Hammond B3 without any feedback problems. The hardware hasn't oxidized at all in the last 6 months while being out of the case most of the time. This is definately a working man's guitar. The El Rey ER 2 is incredibly light, even with 2 pickups. It's comfortable and can be played for a long period of time without fatigue. The guitar is definately a guitar that would suit a gigging guitarist. The guitar is reliable so far. As far as durability, I really can't make that assessment because I've only had the guitar for less than a year.

No need for customer support. Eastman rep Gordon Roberts was very nice and helpful. He set me up for with the El Rey ER2 at the NAMM show. I'm very grateful to Gordon because I enjoy this guitar so much. I still love it as much now as I did the first week I had it. I'm also grateful because I was one of the first to own this model in the US. I didn't have to wait. Others have had to wait for this model to be built and shipped to the US.

I've been playing over 30 years. I have several guitars ranging from Gibson ES175 to custom boutique guitars. This guitar is a keeper. It's the guitar I will take out in public without too much worry. My custom boutique guitar are more like my parlor guitars. This is a great guitar for live situations and volume. The 1 3/4" neck width is also great for fingerstyle. You can play with this guitar with a strap standing up for long periods of time. Your feet will get tired before your back, hands and fingers will. I enjoy this guitar more than my ES175. I wish the guitar sat up higher on my lap since I'm more used to the larger body archtops. Using a strap resolves this issue. My personal preference would be to have a pickguard. But the there are players who intentionly take their pickguards off.

I sold my Eastman 805CE and bought the El Rey because it's more practical to play in a live environment with higher volumes. The amplified sound is great.

This guitar has the main ingredients of what I look for in a guitar. That's the sound, the feel and the vibe which are all very apparent in this guitar.