Eastwood Guitars Joey Leone Limited Edition

The Joey Leone Limited Edition (only 50 made) is a 25 1/2" scale 335 semi-hollow (unusual for this type of guitar), with a set one piece mahogany neck, rosewood fingerboard and a beautiful maple body in red wine. It has three humbucking pickups with a coil tap for each pickup, a volume and tone control, Grover Imperial tuners, tune-o-matic bridge stop tail, and comes with a custom deluxe custom hardshell case. The pickup options give it a great and special versatility.

This guitar is definitely the most versatile 335 guitar on the market today. Eastwood guitars and Joey Leone are breaking serious ground here. With a three pickup configuration and a coil-tap for each pickup the sonic possibilities are endless. It has a rich, full sound on the humbucking positions, but it also sounds bright and Fender-like with the different pickups coil-tapped. My band plays a fusion of different styles and genres. We go from a bossa nova to a blues, and from a blues to a jazz piece. This guitar excels in all these different contexts, so I don't have to change guitars. Today, at rehearsal, after playing Monk's "Round Midnight", we began to jam on Hendrix's "Little Wing". For the Monk piece, I used the neck pickup in the full humbucking mode to get a traditional jazz sound. For the Hendrix number, using the different coil-tap combinations, I was able to get beautiful clean and distorted sounds. The cleans were cristalline and bell-like, and the distortion was piercing but beautiful. I usually run it through different Fenders- a Twin, several Hot Rods (a 212,a 410 and a Deluxe), a '65 Deluxe Reverb Reissue and a new Roland Cube 80X which I use as a practice amp around the house. It sounds fantastic through all of them.

The guitar's action and set-up is superb. With my Gibsons, all have required set-ups after acquiring them. Not with this guitar. Out of the case, the action was impressive, low, comfortable and fast. The 25 1/2" scale length is rare for this type of guitar, but it works. It gives the guitar a tighter, firmer feel, which I like. The set-up of this guitar reminds me of the Epiphone Elitist line (now discontinued) , guitars which came with similar excellent set-ups out of the case, ready to be played. In short, the Joey Leone Limited Edition is a joy to play.

This is a new guitar, and it feels solid and well-made. It plays very well live, and it exhales quality. The finish, hardware, everything in it is top notch. How will it stand the test of gigging and club work, only time will tell, but experience tells me this guitar will last and age beautifully.

In this area, Eastwood excels. I have never and I mean never, seen a guitar company with such an excellent customer service. Mike Robinson, the company president, answers your all emails and questions promptly. The same can be said of Peter McCracken, who dealt with a problem at Customs in a very courteous and efficient manner. In me, they have gained a life-long customer.

I have been playing for many years and can say with absolute certainty that this is an excellent and very special guitar. There is nothing like it on the market. I have no doubt that if this were a Gibson they would be charging at least three times the price. Because of the music I like and play, I've always leaned towards 335-type guitars. I've always found them to be the most versatile Gibson guitar ever made. Joey Leone and Eastwood have taken the basic 335 paradigm and created a true trailblazer, a new innovative axe which has all the features and sound of a traditional 335, but adds a new and wide palette of features and sounds.