Eastman Guitars T185MX

Semi-hollow, double-cutaway, flame maple top, mahogany body, all solid. Beautiful three-ply binding, two Armstron humbuckers, dual vol/tone controls, 3-way switch, stop tailpiece. tuneable bridge, mahogany neck, rosewood fingerboard, dot inlays. Finish is saphire everywhere and is absolutely stunning. The flame figure is not the most perfect I've seen, but the finish is so gorgeous no one would ever notice. It is a breathtakingly beauriful guitar, by far the prettiest I have ever owned. Detail blows my Gibsons away.

I play modern jazz and a touch of blues--Ritenour, Carlton, Scofield, Stern, some Benson, blah. Play variety of Fender amps, Roland synth. It is very quiet through my setup, with little to no feedback. Very resonant acoustically. The sound is harmonically rich, with layers of hollow body and semi-hollow fused, though the tone controls and pickup selection can tilt the balance either way. It sounds way more like a hollow than any es 335 I've had/played. Very resonant acoustically. Able to give a nice Nugent or Carlton blues-rock thing if you want. I love the variety, but am especially happy with the jazz settings.

Setup was terrific on arrival from factory. Pickups were fine, bookmatching was very good, not perfect, and routing appeared first-rate. No complaints here at all.

Only had it three mos, but eveything solid so far. Would have no hesitation about using it solo at a gig.

Incredible. First one wasn't up to store's standards, despite excellent price. Ordered me a new new one from factory and it was perfect. Saved me almost a thousand bucks. Best support I ever had.

Been playing forty years, have owned all kinds of gear. Gibsons, Fenders, Ibanez, Hamer, Dean, Wolfgang, on an on. This guitar quickly becoming a favorite, much better sounding than other 335s I've had or played. I like the smaller body a lot. Love the action, sound, and finish. I do wish I could split the pickups, but that's not a big deal to me. I would certainly buy this over a Gibson or Ibanez (I own both at the moment), as it is much better built and just sounds in a different league. I can't recommed Eastman enough. I'm already saving for my next one

2007 model, all solid woods, hand-carved top and back, stop tailpiece, bound body and neck, 25.5 inch scale, small dot markers, Armstrong humbuckers, two volume - two tone controls, 3-way switch, all pretty standard stuff here for a semi-hollow 335 style guitar. Everything that is useful or tasteful, no superfluous crap.

Perhaps this guitar was more versatile with the stock Kent Armstrongs but I bought it with the intention to change them out for some custom made P-90s, so I played it only a short time with the stock pickups. They sounded quite good but I wanted a very specific tone that can only be accomplished with semi-hollow bodies and P-90s. I will say that the stock pickups offered a wide range of tone and made this a great cover guitar. With the P-90s, it is perfect for me and my 1968 335 stays in its case - just too valuable to play much anymore and really not up to the Eastman for tone and playability. If you haven't experienced the tone of solid, hand-carved woods, you owe it to your playing to test-drive one of these.

I guess the factory set-up was OK but I immediately set it up for the tone and "feel" I like. This took only about 30 minutes because the guitar was new and precisely made. I have spent many hours trying to get lesser quality ( but more expensive) guitars to feel and intonate right. Some set-necks can be nightmares. This was cake. One tuner was a bit catchy but I worked it out a bit and it is now very smooth. Other than that, I can't find any flaws in the fit or finish.

I played out with the 185 last night and the result was so pleasing it motivated me to write this review. It was the first time the band had seen me with a different guitar in years and the Eastman got unanimous approval. I have had it since last November but just practiced at home with it, keeping it under wraps. The wider board took a bit of getting used to and I needed to play the stiffness out of it before going public. I play sitting down,(hell, I'm old!) so I'm not likely to drop it but I think that might be disastrous. After all, it is hollow body with solid woods so extra care should be taken.

All I know is that I got a lifetime warranty with it which I probably voided when I changed the pickups. I haven't had any dealing with the manufacturer.

I have been playing guitar music of one style or another for almost 50 years and once I got this dialed in to my preferences, it became the best player I have had. Everything is just easier to do on this compared to my old 335, and sounds better. Granted, the last fret job on my 335 was not quite right but, at this point, I will probably never have it rectified. The Eastman is a very satisfying guitar. Tonally, just delicious.

I recently got this used and from Eastman's web site:

T185MX
15" Maple top/Mahogany body

These unique 1 3/4??? deep instruments come with a choice of solid, hand-carved mahogany or maple backs with solid spruce or maple tops. The maple body guitars sport handsome gold hardware, 7-ply binding on the body, split block inlays and maple necks with ebony fingerboards. The mahogany body guitars come with chrome hardware, 3 ply bindings, dot inlays, mahogany necks and rosewood fingerboards. Both of these guitars come equipped with powerful Kent Armstrong Humbucking pickups that can slip effortlessly from a rich, woody jazz sound to a satisfying, crunchy, vintage rock tone that explodes out of your amp. These versatile guitars neatly span the distance between a fine hollow body archtop and the classic center block thinline model guitar

Fantasic sound, though I don't agree with the previous reviewer - it is NOT better than a Gibson ES-335. If the Gibson ES-335 used all solid woods, the Gibson might sound even better, but I think these guitars are even, since the Gibson is so large, the Gibson puts out a massive wall of sound. I tried playing some old Cream on the Eastman and I think the ES-335 is a little better for that style, but it is very close.....
I think the Gibson treble pickup position is a bit better than the Eastman (hotter stock PUP?), but the Eastman middle and neck positions are equally as good as the Gibson - perhaps better for pure jazz and more "acoustic-rock" sounding guitar playing. Even though the
Gibson is laminated - for electric guitars, not so important, providing the laminations are top-quality. For floating pickup guitars, that is another story.....

You can play any style of music, though probably not the best
shred/metal guitar. I think it nails the early Ted Nugent sound
and also you can get a good Phish Trey A. guitar tone.

Perfect fretwork, action. My hats off to Eastman for greatly improving
the quality of their guitars, compared to an Eastman Archtop I owned
a long time ago.

Feels very sturdy, though I would not throw it around like a Fender.

Used to own an Eastman archtop with a floating pickup, but the neck
had some issues. This Eastman T185MX just feels like a better
put together guitar than the early Eastmans I tried out and the one
Eastman I owned. I did get to try a recent Eastman Archtop and it
had equally high quality as the T185MX.

As I compared above, I believe a good Gibson 335 or other Gibson archtop is equally as good as an Eastman, but of course, you should try
the individual guitars, since everyone at this price level
sounds a little different, since both Eastmans and Gibsons
are so handmade. If you want all solid woods, the Eastman is the
best bet, unless you have big bucks for some of the higher-end
Gibson archtops or if you can find a vintage Gibson archtop.

ES-335 style guitar with gold hardware. Fully carved mahogany back and sides. Fully carved maple top. 3 piece mahogany neck. 15 inch body width. Ebony fretboard with dot markers. Triple bound neck, headstock and body. Kent Armstrong humbuckers, tuneomatic w/stopbar and Gotoh tuners. Flawless dark sunburst lacquer finish.

I'm not, typically a humbucker fan, but this guitar kills!!! Fabulous dark Jazz tones to bright Rockabilly. Clean or distorted, it's exceptionally smooth and open sounding. Incredibly well balanced up and down the neck. It kills ANY ES-335 that I've played. Musically, I mix things up with jazz, country, blues and rock and I think this axe will prove to be very versatile.

The finish and setup is absolutely FLAWLESS!!! The BEST I've ever encountered from a factory, PERIOD.

See what I've written above and take a guess at what I'd write here.

Purchased from Stutzman's Guitar Center, Rochester, NY. I bought my first guitar there in 1966 and have dealt with them ever since. Perfect service even when a guitar was purchased elsewhere. I'd rate the shop a 20.

I own a number of fine instruments from Gibson, Fender, Guild, Huss & Dalton. Both vintage and new. Expensive and inexpensive. This Eastman guitar is second in my collection to a vintage Gibson which is worth (conservatively) more than 10 times what I paid for the Eastman. These Chinese guitars are the real deal. I have only owned this guitar for a few hours but this is my honest reaction. Do yourself a favor and check out an Eastman.