Eastwood Guitars Classic 6

New Eastwood Gretsch Country Classic Lookalike,made in China. Two Filtertronlike PUs made by Eastwood, beautiful walnut colour, two volume pots, one treble pot, PU selector. T-shirt, some picks and a funny cable (very thinnish, works, though) and some tools came with the guitar. Right out of the box, this guitar does look absolutely amazing. But then....well, let??s do this step by step.

I play fuzzy, loud rhythm and blues (think Blues Explosion, Deadboy and the Elephantmen, Dirtbombs, Delta 72...you get the picture), and as I??m starting a guitar drums duo right now as well, I was looking for a guitar that could deliver fatter tones than my Thinline Tele (the one with the single coils).
That??s exactly what the Eastwood Classic 6 does. Sounded fabulous right out of the box - thick,grungy with a very cool twang to it, but not muddy - very gretschy, indeed. Good job on the Pickups, really! As a fender "regular" I was expecting to save up on Gretsch replacement PUs as I thought this would be the weak spot on a guitar in this price
category. So everything fine here - but then the trouble started.

Welcome to the complaint department! This is where I have to do something I??d rather would have loved not to - but what can you do. First of all: I love the IDEA of Eastwood guitars - producing freak guitars from the past and making them affordable and more playable than the originals. As I have a friend who had a guitar shop selling Eastwoods I had the chance to check out the Airlines, Sidejacks and Phantoms - all great guitars, very inspiring. So I was expecting the Classic 6 to be a winner as well. Well, you??ve got to understand that there are two production lines at Eastwood: The models made in Korea and the ones made in china.....So the models I was able to check out were Korean made. The Classic 6 as well as some other models, is chinese-made. Not to put the shame on anyone, but apart from the looks and sound there wasn??t too much right with this guitar - and I??m certainly NOT overexpecting a guitar as good as an old Gretsch for that budget - but still, there??s only so much you can tolerate. I had to change the bridge for a fixed one as the wooden bridge was not fitting properly and had it??s edges in the air, not on the body of the guitar. Then the Input jack fell of during the second rehearsal, the potis didn??t work properly, were not mounted properly - no big deal, I??ve had them changed. But then the neck started to "work". First of all, there were some dead spots occurring in the 13th fret on the high b and e strings. Took the guitar to my guitartech, he fixed the frets, everything fine. I played the guitar for a week or so, hoping it would work properly from then on.....but then: Dead spots occurring again - this time on the low e and a strings - again in the department over the 12th fret. Plus the wood of neck seemed to "work" heavily, I had the neck readjusted several times and my tech told me - watch this - if this stops appearing - use the guarantee - return option. Plus the fret job on the neck was CRAP. I know what to expect from a chinese made budget guitar - but it??s certainly NOT having the whole thing being rebuilt from scratch.....because of faulty workmanship or due to kinda lazy quality control. Funny enough - this seems to be a common problem with the chinese-models - I??ve noticed the same issues with the new Hagstrom guitars....
So to cut a long story short - as much as I loved the look and sound of this guitar, after the fifth visit at my tech??s shop, I??ve had enough. The Classic 6 had to go. Luckily the guy from the shop where I bought it was very cool and nice and helpful - he swapped the classic 6 for a Hofner verythin contemporary (chinese-made as well, but far better in quality and playability). So sadly I had to leave the beautiful lady for a more functional (although it has the same body shape - thinner, though) guitar. Well, the finish was beautiful on the Eastwood and it??s quiet a piece of solid wood (though it??s lightweight) - if they??d only used older wood that would not work that heavily.......this could be a great guitar. That??s what makes the bonus point.....

After all the trouble I??ve had with this guitar, I trusted it as far as low fat groceries. So, sadly, no live experiences - as a guitar like this is supposed to be proudly shown off on stage - normally.
But as you??ll need some basic kind of reliability onstage, I??d never ever thought of using it live after these problems. As the other reviewer said:"I`ll expect it to work beautifully forever in a studio environment" - probably, yeah. But....there??s only so much you can take.

Well, I??m quite chuffed that the man himself answered my mails - so that??s very nice and kind. Living in the US or Canada, I??m absolutely convinced these guys are about to sort any of your problems in very short time and with a very kind attitude. But as I??m living in Hamburg, germany, the shipping would be as much as a the guitar itself, just to exchange it - so what can you do? Nobodys fault. Once again: I absolutely LOVE the idea of eastwood guitars.

I??ll have to quote the ever great Tim Rogers of australias greatest living rock band You Am I here: "she said, hey boy, are you just in love with the idea of me?"
Same thing here. This could be a great guitar - once Eastwood is going to vastly improve the qualitiy issues. Besides that, the guitar looks absolutely stunning and sounds really good. But as you might want to actually USE the guitar for music making reasons and not as furniture to look great in the house and/or impress your friends at every fortnight??s hobby-jam - you??ll need to look elsewhere.
To give you an an idea how I feel about this guitar: I??ll be checking my guitar dealer in about six months or so again to see if anything happened concerning the quality of the instruments. If so, I??d definitely give it another try. So all is not lost. Until then I??ll be playing my Verythin, that sounds amazingly fat concerning its very thin body.

2006 Model made in China for Eastwood Guitars
Finish is a beautiful Walnut color.
The neck reminds me of a 'Ric' neck (not much taper)
2 Volume 1 Tone Gretsch style knobs.
2 Eastwood Humbuckers.
Eastwood always does some sort of special promotion to introduce a new line. For the first 30 days you might get a free Strap, micro amp, a free pedal, free case, free shipping,etc.
I do wish Eastwood offered a case for all of their models.

My Classic 6 came in the post yesterday. As I pulled it out of the wrapping I was shaking. It's a beauty. I immediately strummed the opening chord to Hard Days Night. Not only does it look the part but, it's a great feeling guitar, well balanced, sensitive pickups. I plugged right into my Silvertone 1482 Tube Amp and have been annoying my neighbours by playing Paperback Writer over, and over. It sounded good in all my amps but, I think this guitar is most at home with a low watt small speaker tube amp on 10. It was the "Dark Horse" sound I was hoping for.

* How well was the guitar set-up at the factory? (How was the action?)
* How well were the pickups adjusted?
* Properly bookmatched top? Properly routed bridge?
* Did the guitar contain any flaws? (misaligned bracing, poorly filed fretwire, finish flaws, poor quality wood, rusted or oxidized hardware, loose tuning pegs, poorly cut nut, poorly fit saddle, noisy pickup selector, loose controls, etc...)


It was in tune out of the box. It was fitted with 9 gauge strings which are too light for me. So, it will have to be set up for 11's. Also one of the volume knobs had come off in shipping and was rolling around in the body. I fished it out and put it back on with no damage to the body.

* Will this guitar withstand live playing?
* Does the hardware seem like it will last?
* Is the finish good enough to last, or does it seem thin and easy to wear off with lots of playing?
* Are the strap buttons solid?
* Can you depend on it?
* Would you use it on a gig without a backup?

Every new guitar I get, no matter what it is get's setup the same way, by the same guys, with the same nut, tuning machines, reinforced jack plates, etc. because most new guitars that aren't Boutique, Handmade guitars are made in a factory, on an essembly line fitted with cheaper hardware that won't last long on a heavy tour scheduel with sweat pouring into it every night. period. But that's not really what these guitars are about. This suspect this guitar in a studio environment would never need more than basic maintiance and work beautifully forever.
I never buy a New guitar based on how cheap the hardware is because I know I'm going to change/upgrade them anyhow.
But at Eastwood prices you can afford to do a little upgrading if you need . or just nab another one for tour. I have two Eastwood Stormbirds too.

This is where Eastwood shines. Mike has answered every email I have ever sent him within hours and is always very helpful. I think when buying a guitar online it's reassuring to know that it's a guitar lover that is selling these to you, not a massive mail order company that will "process your claim". And that he has these guitars made because he thinks it would be cool to have a Club Bass too.

* How long have you been playing? What other gear do you own?
* Is there something you wish you had asked before buying this guitar?
* If it were stolen or lost, would you buy it again or get something else?
* What do you love about it? What do you hate? What is your favorite feature?
* Did you compare it to other guitars? Which ones? Why did you choose this one?
* Anything you wish it had?
* Anything else you'd like to share?


I've been playing for over 15 years. I have early 90's AC15 and a few small Silvertone amps. I have a pile of guitars including a '72 Les Paul Deluxe Gold Top and 1932 Epiphone acoustic to a 2001 Tokai Rosewood Tele-copy.
I am incredibly happy with this guitar. I wish I had band practice tonight. I can't wait to have the Classic 12 and the Club Bass and the Saturn and the...you get the idea. I can't believe that people are out there buying the New Epiphone guitars when they could have a Eastwood Guitar with tons more personallity and a few hundred bucks less. I'm pretty sure these all come out of the same factories. Put the Classic 6 against the Casino. It's all really the same switches and knobs,tuning machines,nuts, etc. but, everyone has the Casino,it's like $150./$200.more and it doesn't look as cool.( in my opinion )
There is truly no beating a 1960's Handmade in America Guitar but Since I was a kid I'd dream about collecting all the Beatles guitars. With Hofners and Gretschs costing well into the thousand$ it's next to impossible unless you are a Richy Rich. Thanks to Eastwood my studio is filling up with classic guitars for way less bread. Can't wait to see what they come up with next. Bang for Buck!